Pelagic – Perdue

Pelagic

PEL'AGIC, adjective [Latin pelagus, the sea.] Pertaining to the sea; as pelagian shells.

PELA'GIAN, noun [from Pelagius, a native of Great Britain, who lived in the fourth century.] A follower of Pelagius, a monk of Banchor or Bangor, who denied original sin, and asserted the doctrine of free will and the merit of good works.

PELA'GIAN, adjective Pertaining to Pelagius and his doctrines.

Pelf

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

Pelican

PEL'ICAN, noun [Low Latin pelicanus.]

1. A fowl of the genus Pelicanus. It is larger than the swan, and remarkable for its enormous bill, to the lower edges of the under chop of which is attached a pouch or bag, capable of being distended so as to hold many quarts of water. In this bag the fowl deposits the fish is takes for food.

2. A chimical glass vessel or alembic with a tubulated capital, from which two opposite and crooked beaks pass out and enter again at the belly of the cucurbit. It is designed for continued distillation and cohobation; the volatile parts of the substance distilling, rising into the capital and returning through the beaks into the cucurbit.

Peliom

PE'LIOM, noun [Gr. black color.] A mineral, a variety of iolite.

Pelisse

PELISSE, noun pelee's. [Latin pellis, skin.] Originally, a furred robe or coat. But the name is now given to a silk coat or habit worn by ladies.

Pell

PELL, noun [Latin pellis.] A skin or hide.

Clerk of the pells, in England, an officer of the exchequer, who enters every teller's bill on the parchment rolls, the roll or receipts and the roll of disbursements.

Pellet

PEL'LET, noun [Latin pila, a ball.]

A little ball; as a pellet of wax or lint.

1. A bullet; a ball for fire-arms. [Not now used.]

Pelleted

PEL'LETED, adjective Consisting of bullets.

Pellicle

PEL'LICLE, noun [Latin pellicula, dim. of pellis, skin.]

A thin skin or film.

1. Among chimists, a thin saline crust formed on the surface of a solution of salt evaporated to a certain degree. This pellicle consists of saline particles crystallized.

Pellitory

PEL'LITORY, noun [Latin parietaria, the wall plant, from paries.]

The name of several plants of different genera. The pellitory of the wall or common pellitory is of the genus Parietaria; the bastard pellitory of the genus Achillea; and the pellitory of Spain is the Anthemis pyrethrum.

PELL'-MELL, adverb With confused violence.

Pellucid

PELLU'CID, adjective [Latin pellucidus; per and lucidus; very bright. See Light.] Perfectly clear; transparent; not opake; as a body as pellucid as crystal.

Pellucidity

PELLUCID'ITY

PELLU'CIDNESS, noun Perfect clearness; transparency; as the pellucidity of the air; the pellucidness of a gem.

Pelt

PELT, noun [Latin pellis.]

1. The skin of a beast with the hair on it; a raw hide.

2. The quarry of a hawk all torn.

3. A blow or stroke from something thrown. [infra.]

PELT, verb transitive [Latin pello.]

1. Properly, to strike with something thrown, driven or falling; as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.

The chiding billows seem to pelt the clouds.

2. To drive by throwing something.

Peltate

PELT'ATE

PELT'ATED, adjective [Latin pelta, a target.] In botany, having the shape of a target or round shield, as a peltate stigma; having the petiole inserted in the disk, as a peltate leaf.

Peltately

PELT'ATELY, adverb In the form of a target.

Pelted

PELT'ED, participle passive Struck with something thrown or driven.

Pelter

PELT'ER, noun One that pelts; also, a pinch-penny; a mean, sordid person.

Pelting

PELT'ING, participle present tense Striking with something thrown or driven.

PELT'ING, noun An assault with any thing thrown.

PELT'ING, adjective In Shakespeare, mean; paltry. [Improper.]

PELT'-MONGER, noun A dealer in pelts or raw hides.

Peltry

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

Pelvimeter

PELVIM'ETER, noun [Latin pelvis, and Gr. measure.] An instrument to measure the dimensions of the female pelvis.

Pelvis

PEL'VIS, noun [Latin pelvis a bason.] The cavity of the body formed by the os sacrum, os coccyx, and ossa innominata, forming the lower part of the abdomen.

Pen

PEN, noun [Latin penna; pinna, a fin, that is, a shoot or point.]

1. An instrument used for writing, usually made of the quill of some large fowl, but it may be of any other material.

2. A feather, a wing. [Not used.]

PEN, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive penned. To write; to compose and commit to paper.

PEN, noun A small inclosure for beasts, as for cows or sheep.

PEN, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive penned or pent. To shut in a pen; to confine in a small inclosure; to coop; to confine in a narrow place, usually followed by up, which is redundant.

Penal

PE'NAL, adjective [Latin poena; Gr. pain, punishment. See Pain.]

1. Enacting punishment; denouncing the punishment of offenses; as a penal law or statute; the penal code. penal statutes must be construed strictly.

2. Inflicting punishment.

Adamantine chains and penal fire.

3. Incurring punishment; subject to a penalty; as a penal act of offense.

Penality

PENAL'ITY, noun Liableness or condemnation to punishment. [Not used.]

Penalty

PEN'ALTY, noun

1. The suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense or trespass, as a punishment. A fine is a pecuniary penalty The usual penalties inflicted on the person, are whipping, cropping, branding, imprisonment, hard labor, transportation or death.

2. The suffering to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of non-fulfillment of his stipulations; the forfeiture or sum to be forfeited for non-payment, or for non-compliance with an agreement; as the penalty of a bond.

Penance

PEN'ANCE, noun

1. The suffering, labor or pain to which a person voluntarily subjects himself, or which is imposed on him by authority as a punishment for his faults, or as an expression of penitence; such as fasting, flagellation, wearing chains, etc. penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Romish church.

2. Repentance.

Pence

PENCE, noun pens. The plural of penny, when used of a sum of money or value. When pieces of coin are mentioned, we use pennies.

Pencil

PEN'CIL, noun [Latin penicillus.]

1. A small brush used by painters for laying on colors. The proper pencils are made of fine hair or bristles, as of camels, badgers or squirrels, or of the down of swans, inclosed in a quill. The larger pencils, made of swine's bristles, are called brushes.

2. A pen formed of carburet of iron or plumbago, black lead or red chalk, with a point at one end, used for writing and drawing.

3. Any instrument of writing without ink.

4. An aggregate or collection of rays of light.

PEN'CIL, verb transitive To paint or draw; to write or mark with a pencil

Pencil-Shaped

PEN'CIL-SHAPED, adjective Having the shape of a pencil.

Penciled

PEN'CILED, participle passive Painted, drawn or marked with a pencil.

1. Radiated; having pencils of rays.

Penciling

PEN'CILING, participle present tense Painting, drawing or marking with a pencil.

Pendant

PEND'ANT, noun [Latin pendeo, to hang.]

1. An ornament or jewel hanging at the ear, usually composed of pearl or some precious stone.

2. Any thing hanging by way of ornament.

3. In heraldry, a part hanging from the label, resembling the drops in the Doric frieze.

4. A streamer; a small flag or long narrow banner displayed from a ship's mast head, usually terminating in two points called the swallow's tail. It denotes that a ship is in actual service. The broad pendant is used to distinguish the chief of a squadron.

5. A short piece of rope fixed on each side under the shrouds, on the heads of the main and fore-mast, having an iron thimble to receive the hooks of the tackle.

There are many other pendants consisting of a rope or ropes, to whose lower extremity is attached a block or tackle. The rudder-pendant is a rope made fast to the rudder by a chain, to prevent the loss of the rudder when unshipped.

6. A pendulum. [Not used.]

Pendence

PEND'ENCE, noun [Latin pendens, pendeo, to hang.] Slope; inclination.

Pendency

PEND'ENCY, noun [Latin pendens, pendeo, supra.] Suspense; the state of being undecided; as, to wait during the pendency of a suit or petition.

Pendent

PEND'ENT, adjective [Latin pendens.] Hanging; fastened at one end, the other being loose.

With ribbons pendent flaring about her head.

1. Jutting over; projecting; as a pendant rock.

2. Supported above the ground.

Pending

PEND'ING, adjective [Latin pendeo, to hang; pendente lite.] Depending; remaining undecided; not terminated. This was done, pending the suit.

Pendulosity

PENDULOS'ITY

PEND'ULOUS, adjective [Latin pendulus, from pendeo, to hang.]

Hanging; swinging; fastened to one end, the other being movable. The dewlap of an animal is pendulous.

Pendulous

PEND'ULOUS, a. [L. pendulus, from pendeo, to hang.]

Hanging; swinging; fastened to one end, the other being movable. The dewlap of an animal is pendulous.

Pendulousness

PEND'ULOUSNESS, noun [See Pendulous.] The state of hanging; suspension. [The latter is the preferable word.]

Pendulum

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

Penetrability

PENETRABIL'ITY, noun [from penetrable.] Susceptibility of being penetrated, or of being entered or passed through by another body.

There being no mean between penetrability and impenetrability.

Penetrable

PEN'ETRABLE, adjective [Latin penetrabilis. See Penetrate.]

1. That may be penetrated, entered, or pierced by another body.

Let him try thy dart,

And pierce his only penetrable part.

2. Susceptible of moral or intellectual impression.

I am not made of stone,

But penetrable to your kind entreaties.

Penetrail

PEN'ETRAIL, noun [Latin penetralia.] Interior parts. [Not used.]

Penetrancy

PEN'ETRANCY, noun [Latin penetrans.] Power of entering or piercing; as the penetrancy of subtil effluvia.

Penetrant

PEN'ETRANT, adjective [Latin penetrans.] Having the power to enter or pierce; sharp; subtil; as penetrant spirit; food subtilized and rendered fluid and penetrant

Penetrate

PEN'ETRATE, verb transitive [Latin penetro, from the root of pen, a point.]

1. To enter or pierce; to make way into another body; as, a sword or dart penetrates the body; oil penetrates wood; marrow, the most penetrating of oil substances.

2. To affect the mind; to cause to feel. I am penetrated with a lively sense of your generosity.

3. To reach by the intellect; to understand; as, to penetrate the meaning or design of any thing.

4. To enter; to pass into the interior; as, to penetrate a country.

PEN'ETRATE, verb intransitive To pass; to make way.

Born where heaven's influence scarce can penetrate

1. To make way intellectually. He had not penetrated into the designs of the prince.

Penetrated

PEN'ETRATED, participle passive Entered; pierced; understood; fathomed.

Penetrating

PEN'ETRATING, participle present tense Entering; piercing; understanding.

1. adjective Having the power of entering or piercing another body; sharp; subtil. Oil is a penetrating substance.

2. Acute; discerning; quick to understand; as a penetrating mind.

Penetration

PENETRA'TION, noun The act of entering a body.

1. Mental entrance into any thing abstruse; as a penetration into the abstruse difficulties of algebra.

2. Acuteness; sagacity; as a man of great or nice penetration

Penetrative

PEN'ETRATIVE, adjective Piercing; sharp; subtil.

Let not air be too gross nor too penetrative

1. Acute; sagacious; discerning; as penetrative wisdom.

2. Having the power to affect or impress the mind; as penetrative shame.

Penetrativeness

PEN'ETRATIVENESS, noun The quality of being penetrative.

Penfish

PEN'FISH, noun A kind of eelpout with a smooth skin.

Penguin

PEN'GUIN, noun [Latin pinguidine, with fatness.]

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

2. A species of fruit.

Penicil

PEN'ICIL, noun [Latin penicillus. See Pencil.]

1. Among physicians, a tent or pledget for wounds or ulcers.

2. A species of shell.

Peninsula

PENIN'SULA, noun [Latin pene, almost, and insula, an isle.]

1. A portion of land, connected with a continent by a narrow neck or isthmus, but nearly surrounded with water. Thus Boston stands on a peninsula

2. A large extent of country joining the main land by a part narrower than the tract itself. Thus Spain and Portugal are said to be situated on a peninsula

Peninsular

PENIN'SULAR, adjective In the form or state of a peninsula; pertaining to a peninsula.

Peninsulate

PENIN'SULATE, verb transitive To encompass almost with water; to form a peninsula.

South river peninsulates Castle hill farm, and at high tides, surrounds it.

Peninsulated

PENIN'SULATED, participle passive Almost surrounded with water.

Peninsulating

PENIN'SULATING, participle present tense Nearly surrounding with water.

Penitence

PEN'ITENCE

PENITENCY, noun [Latin poenitentia, from poeniteo, from poena, pain, punishment. See Pain.] Repentance; pain; sorrow or grief of heart for sins or offenses; contrition. Real penitence springs from a conviction of guilt and ingratitude to God, and is followed by amendment of life.

Penitency

PENITENCY, n. [L. poenitentia, from poeniteo, from poena, pain, punishment. See Pain.] Repentance; pain; sorrow or grief of heart for sins or offenses; contrition. Real penitence springs from a conviction of guilt and ingratitude to God, and is followed by amendment of life.

Penitent

PEN'ITENT, adjective [Latin poenitens.] Suffering pain or sorrow of heart on account of sins, crimes or offenses; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt and resolving on amendment of life.

The proud he tam'd, the penitent he cheer'd.

PEN'ITENT, noun One that repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his transgressions.

1. One under church censure, but admitted to penance.

2. One under the direction of a confessor.

Penitents is an appellation given to certain fraternities in catholic countries, distinguished by their habits and employed in charitable acts.

Order of penitents, a religious order established by one Bernard of Marseilles, about the year 1272, for the reception of reformed courtezans. The congregation of penitents at Paris, was founded with a similar view.

Penitential

PENITEN'TIAL, adjective Proceeding from or expressing penitence or contrition of heart; as penitential sorrow or tears.

PENITEN'TIAL, noun Among the Romanists, a book containing the rules which relate to penance and the reconciliation of penitents.

Penitentiary

PENITEN'TIARY, adjective Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance.

PENITEN'TIARY, noun One that prescribes the rules and measures of penance.

1. A penitent; one that does penance.

2. At the court of Rome, an office in which are examined and delivered out the secret bulls, graces or dispensations relating to cases of conscience, confession, etc.

3. An officer in some cathedrals, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him. The pope has a grand penitentiary who is a cardinal and is chief of the other penitentiaries.

4. A house of correction in which offenders are confined for punishment and reformation, and compelled to labor; a workhouse. A state prison is a penitentiary

Penitently

PEN'ITENTLY, adverb With penitence; with repentance, sorrow or contrition for sin.

Penknife

PEN'KNIFE, noun [See Pen and Knife.] A small knife used for making and mending pens.

Penman

PEN'MAN, noun plural penmen. [See Pen and Man.]

1. A man that professes or teaches the art of writing. More generally,

2. One that writes a good hand.

3. An author; a writer; as the sacred penmen.

Penmanship

PEN'MANSHIP, noun The use of the pen in writing; the art of writing.

1. Manner of writing; as good or bad penmanship

Pennached

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

Pennant

PEN'NANT

PEN'NATE

PEN'NATED, adjective [Latin pennatus, winged, from penna, a quill or wing.]

1. Winged.

2. In botany, a pennate leaf is a compound leaf in which a simple petiole has several leaflets attached to each side of it. [See Pinnate.]

Pennate

PEN'NATE

Pennated

PEN'NATED, a. [L.pennatus, winged, from penna, a quill or wing.] 1. Winged.2. In botany, a pennate leaf is a compound leaf in which a simple petiole has several leaflets attached to each side of it. [See Pinnate.]

Penned

PEN'NED, participle passive Written.

PEN'NED, adjective Winged; having plumes.

Penner

PEN'NER, noun A writer.

1. A pen-case. [Local.]

Penniform

PEN'NIFORM, adjective [Latin penna, a feather or quill, and form.]

Having the form of a quill or feather.

Penniless

PEN'NILESS, adjective [from penny.] Moneyless; destitute of money; poor.

Penning

PEN'NING, participle present tense Committing to writing.

PENNON. [See Pennant.]

Pennon

PEN'NON, noun [Latin pannus, a cloth]

1. A small flag; a banner. [See Pendant.]

2. A tackle for hoisting things on board a ship.

Penny

PEN'NY, noun plural pennies or pence. Pennies denotes the number of coins; pence the amount of pennies in value.

1. An ancient English silver coin; but now an imaginary money of account, twelve of which are equal to a shilling. It is the radical denomination from which English coin is numbered.

2. In ancient English statutes, any or all silver money.

3. Proverbially, a small sum. He will not lend a penny

4. Money in general.

Be sure to turn the penny

Pennypost

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

Pennyroyal

PENNYROY'AL, noun A plant of the genus Mentha.

The English pennyroyal is the Mentha pulegium; the noun American pennyroyal is the Cunila pulegioides.

Pennyweight

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

Pennywise

PEN'NYWISE, adjective Saving small sums at the hazard of larger; niggardly on improper occasions.

Pennyworth

PEN'NYWORTH, noun As much as is bought for a penny.

1. Any purchase; any thing bought or sold for money; that which is worth the money given.

2. A good bargain; something advantageously purchased, or for less than it is worth.

3. A small quantity.

Pensile

PEN'SILE, adjective [Latin pensilis, from pendeo, to hang.]

1. Hanging; suspended; as a pensile bell.

2. Supported above the ground; as a pensile garden.

Pensileness

PEN'SILENESS, noun The state of hanging.

Pension

PEN'SION, noun [Latin pensio, form pendo, pensum, to pay.]

1. An annual allowance of a sum of money to a person by government in consideration of past services, civil or military. Men often receive pensions for eminent services on retiring from office. But in particular, officers, soldiers and seamen receive pensions when they are disabled for further services.

2. An annual payment by an individual to an old or disabled servant.

3. In Great Britain, an annual allowance made by government to indigent widows of officers killed or dying in public service.

4. Payment of money; rent.

5. A yearly payment in the inns of court.

6. A certain sum of money paid to a clergyman in lieu of tithes.

7. An allowance or annual payment, considered in the light of a bribe.

PEN'SION, verb transitive To grant a pension to; to grant an annual allowance from the public treasury to a person for past services, or on account of disability incurred in public service, or of old age.

Pensionary

PEN'SIONARY, adjective Maintained by a pension; receiving a pension; as pensionary spies.

1. Consisting in a pension; as a pensionary provision for maintenance.

PEN'SIONARY, noun A person who receives a pension from government for past services, or a yearly allowance from some prince, company or individual.

1. The first minister of the states of the province of Holland; also, the first minister of the regency of a city in Holland.

Pensioned

PEN'SIONED, participle passive Having a pension.

Pensioner

PEN'SIONER, noun One to whom an annual sum of money is paid by government in consideration of past services.

1. One who receives an annual allowance for services.

2. A dependant.

3. In the university of Cambridge, and in that of Dublin, an undergraduate or bachelor of arts who lives at his own expense.

4. One of an honorable band of gentlemen who attend on the king of England, and receive a pension or an annual allowance of a hundred pounds. This band was instituted by Henry VII. Their duty is to guard the king's person in his own house.

Pensioning

PEN'SIONING, participle present tense Granting an annual allowance for past services.

Pensive

PEN'SIVE, adjective [Latin penso, to weigh, to consider; pendo, to weigh.]

1. Literally, thoughtful; employed in serious study or reflection; but it often implies some degree of sorrow, anxiety, depression or gloom of mind; thoughtful and sad, or sorrowful.

Anxious cares the pensive nymph oppress'd.

2. Expressing thoughtfulness with sadness; as pensive numbers; pensive strains.

Pensively

PEN'SIVELY, adverb With thoughtfulness; with gloomy seriousness or some degree of melancholy.

Pensiveness

PEN'SIVENESS, noun Gloomy thoughtfulness; melancholy; seriousness from depressed spirits.

Penstock

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

Pent

PENT, participle passive of pen. Shut up; closely confined.

Pentacapsular

PENTACAP'SULAR, adjective [Gr. five, and capsular.] In botany, having five capsules.

Pentachord

PEN'TACHORD, noun [Gr. five, and chord.]

1. An instrument of music with five strings.

2. An order or system of five sounds.

Pentacoccous

PEN'TACOCCOUS, adjective [Gr. five, and Latin coccus, a berry.]

Having or containing five grains or seeds, or having five cells with one seed in each.

Pentacoster

PEN'TACOSTER, noun [Gr.] In ancient Greece, a military officer commanding fifty men; but the number varied.

Pentacostys

PEN'TACOSTYS, noun [Gr.] A body of fifty soldiers; but the number varied.

Pentacrinite

PENTAC'RINITE, noun The fossil remains of a zoophyte.

Pentacrostic

PENTACROS'TIC, adjective [Gr. five, and acrostic.] Containing five acrostics of the same name in five divisions of each verse.

PENTACROS'TIC, noun A set of verses so disposed as to have five acrostics of the same name in five divisions of each verse.

Pentadactyl

PENTADAC'TYL, noun [Gr. five, and finger.]

1. In botany, a plant called five fingers; a name given to the Ricinus or Palma Christi, from the shape of its leaf.

2. In ichthyology, the five fingered fish; a name given to a fish common in the East Indian seas, which has five black streaks on each side resembling the prints of five fingers.

Pentagon

PEN'TAGON, noun [Gr. five, and a corner.]

1. In geometry, a figure of five sides and five angles.

2. In fortification, a fort with five bastions.

Pentagonal

PENTAG'ONAL

PENTAG'ONOUS, adjective Having five corners or angles.

Pentagonous

PENTAG'ONOUS, a. Having five corners or angles.

Pentagraph

PEN'TAGRAPH, noun [Gr. five, and to write.] An instrument for drawing figures in any proportion at pleasure, or for copying or reducing a figure, plan, print, etc. to any desired size.

Pentagraphic

PENTAGRAPH'IC

PENTAGRAPH'ICAL, adjective Pertaining to a pentagraph; performed by a pentagraph.

Pentagraphical

PENTAGRAPH'ICAL, a. Pertaining to a pentagraph; performed by a pentagraph.

Pentagyn

PEN'TAGYN, noun [Gr. five, and a female.] In botany, a plant having five pistils.

Pentagynian

PENTAGYN'IAN, adjective Having five pistils.

Pentahedral

PENTAHE'DRAL

PENTAHE'DRON, noun [Gr. five, and a side or base.]

A figure having five equal sides.

Pentahedron

PENTAHE'DRON, n. [Gr. five, and a side or base.]

A figure having five equal sides.

Pentahedrous

PENTAHE'DROUS, adjective Having five equal sides.

Pentahexahedral

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

Pentameter

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

PENTAM'ETER, adjective Having five metrical feet.

Pentander

PENTAN'DER, noun [Gr. five, and a male.] In botany, a plant having five stamens.

Pentandrian

PENTAN'DRIAN, adjective Having five stamens.

Pentangular

PENTAN'GULAR, adjective [Gr. five, and angular.]

Having five corners or angles.

Pentapetalous

PENTAPET'ALOUS, adjective [Gr. five, and a petal.]

Having five petals or flower leaves.

Pentaphyllous

PENTAPH'YLLOUS, adjective [Gr. five, and a leaf.] Having five leaves.

Pentarchy

PEN'TARCHY, noun [Gr. five, and rule.]

A government in the hands of five persons.

Pentaspast

PEN'TASPAST, noun [Gr. five, and to draw.]

An engine with five pulleys.

Pentaspermous

PENTASPERM'OUS, adjective [Gr. five, and seed.] Containing five seeds.

Pentastich

PEN'TASTICH, noun [Gr. five, and verse.]

A composition consisting of five verses.

Pentastyle

PEN'TASTYLE, noun [Gr. five, and a column.] In architecture, a work containing five rows of columns.

Pentateuch

PEN'TATEUCH, noun [Gr. five, and a book or composition.]

The first five books of the Old Testament.

Penteconter

PEN'TECONTER, noun [from the Greek.] A Grecian vessel of fifty oars, smaller than a trireme.

Pentecost

PEN'TECOST, noun [Gr. fiftieth.]

1. A solemn festival of the Jews, so called because celebrated on the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of Nisan, which was the second day of the passover. It was called the feast of weeks, because it was celebrated seven weeks after the passover. It was instituted to oblige the people to repair to the temple of the Lord, there to acknowledge his absolute dominion over the country, and offer him the first fruits of their harvest; also that they might call to mind and give thanks to God for the law which he had given them at Sinai on the fiftieth day from their departure from Egypt.

2. Whitsuntide, a solemn feast of the church, held in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Acts 2:1.

Pentecostal

PEN'TECOSTAL, adjective Pertaining to Whitsuntide.

Pentecostals

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

Penthouse

PENT'HOUSE, noun A shed standing aslope from the main wall or building.

Pentice

PEN'TICE, noun [Latin pendo, to bend.] A sloping roof. [Little used.]

Pentile

PEN'TILE, noun A tile for covering the sloping part of a roof.

Pentremite

PEN'TREMITE, noun A genus of zoophytes or fossil shells.

Penult

PENULT', noun [Latin penultimus; pene, almost, and ultimus, last.]

The last syllable of a word except one.

Penultimate

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

Penumbra

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

Penurious

PENU'RIOUS, adjective [Latin penuria, scarcity, want; Gr. poor; rare.]

1. Excessively saving or sparing in the use of money; parsimonious to a fault; sordid; as a penurious man. It expresses somewhat less than niggardly.

2. Scanty; affording little; as a penurious spring.

Penuriously

PENU'RIOUSLY, adverb In a saving or parsimonious manner; with scanty supply.

Penury

PEN'URY, noun [Latin penuria, from Gr. needy.]

Want of property; indigence; extreme poverty.

All innocent they were exposed to hardship and penury

Peon

PE'ON, noun In Hindoostan, a foot soldier, or a footman armed with sword and target; said to be corrupted from piadah. [Qu. Latin pes, pedis.] Hence,

1. In France, a common man in chess; usually written and called pawn.

Peony

PE'ONY, noun [Latin poeonia; Gr. from Apollo.]

A plant and flower of the genus Paeonia. It is written also piony.

People

PEOPLE, noun [Latin populus.]

1. The body of persons who compose a community, town, city or nation. We say, the people of a town; the people of London or Paris; the English people In this sense, the word is not used in the plural, but it comprehends all classes of inhabitants, considered as a collective body, or any portion of the inhabitants of a city or country.

2. The vulgar; the mass of illiterate persons.

The knowing artist may judge better than the people

3. The commonalty, as distinct from men of rank.

Myself shall mount the rostrum in his favor,

And strive to gain his pardon from the people

4. Persons of a particular class; a part of a nation or community; as country people

5. Persons in general; any persons indefinitely; like on in French, and man in Saxon.

PEOPLE were tempted to lend by great premiums and large interest.

6. A collection or community of animals.

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. Proverbs 30:25.

7. When people signified a separate nation or tribe, it has the plural number.

Thou must prophesy again before many peoples. Revelation 10:11.

8. In Scripture, fathers or kindred. Genesis 25:8.

9. The Gentiles.

--To him shall the gathering of the people be. Genesis 49:10.

PEOPLE, verb transitive To stock with inhabitants. Emigrants from Europe have peopled the United States.

Peopled

PEOPLED, participle passive Stocked or furnished with inhabitants.

Peopling

PEOPLING, participle present tense Stocking with inhabitants.

Peoplish

PEOPLISH, adjective Vulgar.

Pepastic

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

Pepper

PEP'PER, noun [Latin piper.] A plant and its seed or grain, of the genus Piper. The stem of the plant is a vine requiring a prop, which is usually a tree. The leaves are oval and the flower white. We have three kinds of pepper the black, the white, and the long. The black pepper is the produce of Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, and other Asiatic countries; The white pepper is the black pepper decorticated; the long pepper is the fruit of a different species, also from the E. Indies. It consists of numerous grains attached to a common footstalk. pepper has a strong aromatic smell and a pungent taste.

PEP'PER, verb transitive To sprinkle with pepper

1. To beat; to pelt with shot; to mangle with blows.

Pepper-Box

PEP'PER-BOX, noun A small box with a perforated lid, used for sprinkling pulverized pepper on food.

Pepper-Cake

PEP'PER-CAKE, noun A kind of spiced cake or gingerbread.

Pepper-Corn

PEP'PER-CORN, noun The berry or seed of the pepper-plant.

1. Something of inconsiderable value; as lands held at the rent of a pepper-corn

Pepper-Gingerbread

PEPPER-GIN'GERBREAD, noun A kind of cake made in England.

Pepper-Pot

PEP'PER-POT, noun A plant of the genus Capsicum.

Pepper-Tree

PEP'PER-TREE, noun A plant of the venus Vitis.

Pepper-Water

PEP'PER-WATER, noun A liquor prepared from powdered black pepper; used in microscopical observations.

Pepper-Wort

PEP'PER-WORT, noun A plant of the genus Lepidium.

Peppered

PEP'PERED, participle passive Sprinkled with pepper; pelted; spotted.

Peppergrass

PEP'PERGRASS, noun A plant of the genus Pilularia; also, a plant of the genus Lepidium.

Peppering

PEP'PERING, participle present tense Sprinkling with pepper; pelting.

1. adjective Hot; pungent; angry.

Peppermint

PEP'PERMINT, noun A plant of the genus Mentha. It is aromatic and pungent. Also, a liquor distilled from the plant.

Peppermint-Tree

PEP'PERMINT-TREE, noun The Eucalyptus piperita, a native of New South Wales.

Peptic

PEP'TIC, adjective [Gr. to digest.]

Promoting digestion; dietetic, as peptic precepts.

Per

PER, a Latin preposition, denoting through, passing, or over the whole extent, as in perambulo. Hence it is sometimes equivalent to very in English, as in peracutus, very sharp. As a prefix, in English, it retains these significations, and in chimistry it is used to denote very of fully, to the utmost extent, as in peroxyd, a substance oxydated to the utmost degree.

PER is used also for by, as per bearer, by the bearer.

PER annum, [Latin] by the year; in each year successively.

PER se, [Latin] by himself; by itself; by themselves.

Peracute

PERACU'TE, adjective [Latin peracutus; per, through, and acutus, sharp.]

Very sharp; very violent; as a peracute fever. [Little used.]

Peradventure

PERADVENT'URE, adverb [Latin venio, to come.] By chance; perhaps; it may be.

It has been used as a noun for doubt or question, but rather improperly. The word is obsolescent and inelegant.

Peragrate

PER'AGRATE, verb intransitive [Latin peragro; per, through, over, and ager, a field.] To travel over or through; to wander; to ramble. [Little used.]

Peragration

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

Perambulate

PERAM'BULATE, verb transitive [Latin perambulo; per and ambulo, to walk.]

To walk through or over; properly and technically, to pass through or over for the purpose of surveying or examining something; to visit as overseers; as, to perambulate a parish. So in New England, the laws require the select men of towns to appoint suitable persons annually to perambulate the borders or bounds of the township, and renew the boundaries, or see that the old ones are in a good state.

Perambulated

PERAM'BULATED, participle passive Passed over; inspected.

Perambulating

PERAM'BULATING, participle present tense Passing over or through for the purpose of inspection.

Perambulation

PERAMBULA'TION, noun The act of passing or walking through or over.

1. A traveling survey or inspection.

2. A district within which a person has the right of inspection; jurisdiction.

3. Annual survey of the bounds of a parish in England, or of a township in America.

Perambulator

PERAM'BULATOR, noun An instrument or wheel for measuring distances, to be used in surveying or traveling; called also a pedometer.

Perbisulphate

PERBISUL'PHATE, noun A sulphate with two proportions of sulphuric acid, and combined with an oxyd at the maximum of oxydation.

Percarbureted

PERC'ARBURETED, adjective The percarbureted hydrogen of the French chimists is said to be the only definite compound of these two elements.

Percase

PERCA'SE, adverb [per and case, by case.]

Perhaps; perchance. [Not used.]

Perceant

PER'CEANT, noun Piercing; penetrating. [Not used.]

Perceivable

PERCE'IVABLE, adjective [See Perceive.] Perceptible; that may be perceived; that may fall under perception or the cognizance of the senses; that may be felt, seen, heard, smelt or tasted. We say, the roughness of cloth is perceivable; the dawn of the morning is perceivable; the sound of a bell is perceivable; the scent of an orange is perceivable; the difference of taste in an apple and an orange is perceivable

1. That may be known, understood or conceived. [Less proper.]

Perceivably

PERCE'IVABLY, adverb In such a manner as to be perceived.

Perceivance

PERCE'IVANCE, noun Power of perceiving. [Not in use.]

Perceive

PERCE'IVE, verb transitive [Latin percipio; per and capio, to take.]

1. To have knowledge or receive impressions of external objects through the medium or instrumentality of the senses or bodily organs; as, to perceive light or color; to perceive the cold or ice or the taste of honey.

2. To know; to understand; to observe.

Till we ourselves see it with our own eyes, and perceive it by our own understanding, we are in the dark.

3. To be affected by; to receive impressions from.

The upper regions of the air perceive the collection of the matter of tempests before the air below.

Perceived

PERCE'IVED, participle passive Known by the senses; felt; understood; observed.

Perceiver

PERCE'IVER, noun One who perceives, feels or observes.

Perceptibility

PERCEPTIBIL'ITY, noun The state or quality of being perceptible; as the perceptibility of light or color.

1. Perception. [Less proper.]

Perceptible

PERCEP'TIBLE, adjective [Latin percipio, perceptus.]

1. That may be perceived; that may impress the bodily organs; that may come under the cognizance of the senses; as a perceptible degree of heat or cold; a perceptible odor; a perceptible sound. A thing may be too minute to be perceptible to the touch.

2. That may be known or conceived of.

Perceptibly

PERCEP'TIBLY, adverb In a manner to be perceived.

The woman decays perceptibly every week.

Perception

PERCEP'TION, noun [Latin perceptio. See Perceive.]

1. The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects. We gain a knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception

2. In philosophy, the faculty of perceiving; the faculty or peculiar part of man's constitution, by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs.

3. Notion; idea.

4. The state of being affected or capable of being affected by something external.

This experiment discovers perception in plants.

Perceptive

PERCEP'TIVE, adjective Having the faculty of perceiving.

Perceptivity

PERCEPTIV'ITY, noun The power of perception of thinking.

Perch

PERCH, noun [Latin perca.] A fish of the genus Perca. This fish has a deep body, very rough scales, an arched back, and prickly dorsal fins.

PERCH, noun [Latin pertica.]

1. A pole; hence, a roost for fowls, which is often a pole; also, any thing on which they light.

2. A measure of length containing five yards and a half; a rod. In the popular language of America, rod is chiefly used; but rod, pole, and perch all signifying the same thing, may be used indifferently.

PERCH, verb intransitive To sit or roost; as a bird.

1. To light or settle on a fixed body; as a bird.

PERCH, verb transitive To place on a fixed object or perch

Perchance

PERCH'ANCE, adverb [per and chance.] By chance; perhaps.

Perchers

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

Perchlorate

PERCHLO'RATE, noun A compound of perchloric acid with a base.

Perchloric

PERCHLO'RIC, adjective perchloric acid is chlorine converted into an acid by combining with a maximum of oxygen.

Percipient

PERCIP'IENT, adjective [Latin percipiens.] Perceiving; having the faculty of perception. Animals are percipient beings; mere matter is not percipient

PERCIP'IENT, noun One that perceives or has the faculty of perception.

Perclose

PERCLO'SE, noun s as z. Conclusion. [Not used.]

Percolate

PER'COLATE, verb transitive [Latin percolo; per and colo, to strain.] To strain through; to cause to pass through small interstices, as a liquor; to filter.

PER'COLATE, verb intransitive To pass through small interstices; to filter; as, water percolates through a porous stone.

Percolated

PER'COLATED, participle passive Filtered; passed through small interstices.

Percolating

PER'COLATING, participle present tense Filtering.

Percolation

PERCOLA'TION, noun The act of straining or filtering; filtration; the act of passing through small interstices, as liquor through felt or a porous stone.

Percolation is intended for the purification of liquors.

Percuss

PERCUSS', verb transitive [Latin percussus, from percutio, to strike.]

To strike. [Little used.]

Percussion

PERCUS'SION, noun [Latin percussio.] The act of striking one body against another, with some violence; as the vibrations excited in the air by percussion

1. The impression one body makes on another by falling on it or striking it.

2. The impression or effect of sound on the ear.

Percutient

PERCU'TIENT, noun [Latin percutiens.] That which strikes, or has power to strike.

Perdifoil

PER'DIFOIL, noun [Latin perdo, to lose, and folium, leaf.] A plant that annually loses or drops its leaves; opposed to evergreen.

The passion flower of America and the jasmine of Malabar, which are evergreens in their native climates, become perdifoils when transplanted into Britain.

Perdition

PERDI'TION, noun [Latin perditio, from perdo, to lose, to ruin.]

1. Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction; as the perdition of the Turkish fleet.

[In this sense, the word is now nearly or wholly obsolete.]

2. The utter loss of the soul or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death. The impenitent sinner is condemned to final perdition

If we reject the truth, we seal our own perdition

3. Loss. [Not used.]

Perdu

PERDU'

PERDU'E, adverb [Latin perdo.] Close; in concealment.

The moderator, out of view,

Beneath the desk had lain perdue.

PERDU', noun One that is placed on the watch or in ambush.

PERDU', adjective Abandoned; employed on desperate purposes; accustomed to desperate purposes or enterprises.

Perdue

PERDU'E, adv. [L. perdo.] Close; in concealment. The moderator, out of view, Beneath the desk had lain perdue.