Portable – Potentate

Portable

PORTABLE, adjective [Latin porto, to carry.]

1. That may be carried by the hand or about the person, on horseback, or in a traveling vehicle; not bulky or heavy; that may be easily conveyed from place to place with one's traveling baggage; as a portable bureau or secretary.

2. That may be carried from place to place.

3. That may be borne along with one.

The pleasure of the religious man is an easy and portable pleasure.

4. Sufferable; supportable. [Not in use.]

Portableness

PORTABLENESS, noun The quality of being portable.

Portage

PORTAGE, noun The act of carrying.

1. The price of carriage.

2. A port-hole. [Unusual.]

3. A carrying place over land between navigable waters.

Portal

PORTAL, noun In architecture, a little gate, where there are two gates of different dimensions.

1. A little square corner of a room, separated from the rest by a wainscot, and forming a short passage into a room.

2. A kind of arch of joiner's work before a door.

3. A gate; an opening for entrance; as the portals of heaven.

Portance

PORTANCE, noun Air; mien; carriage; port; demeanor.

Portass

PORTASS, noun A breviary; a prayer book. [portuis, porthose.]

[Not used.]

Portative

PORTATIVE, adjective Portable. [Not used.]

Portcullis

PORTCUL'LIS, noun [Latin clausus.] In fortification, an assemblage of timbers joined across one another, like those of a harrow, and each pointed with iron; hung over the gateway of a fortified town, to be let down in case of surprise, to prevent the entrance of an enemy.

PORTCUL'LIS, verb transitive To shut; to bar; to obstruct.

Portcullised

PORTCUL'LISED, adjective Having a portcullis.

Porte

PORTE, noun The Ottoman court, so called from the gate of the Sultan's palace where justice is administered; as the Sublime porte

Ported

PORTED, adjective Having gates. [Not used.]

1. Borne in a certain or regular order.

Portend

PORTEND', verb transitive [Latin portendo; por; Eng. fore, and tendo, to stretch.] To foreshow; to foretoken; to indicate something future by previous signs.

A moist and cool summer portends a hard winter.

Portended

PORTEND'ED, participle passive Foreshown; previously indicated by signs.

Portending

PORTEND'ING, participle present tense Foreshowing.

Portension

PORTEN'SION, noun The act of foreshowing. [Not in use.]

Portent

PORTENT', noun [Latin portentum.] An omen of ill; any previous sign or prodigy indicating the approach of evil or calamity.

My loss by dire portents the god foretold.

Portentous

PORTENT'OUS, adjective [Latin portentosus.] Ominous; foreshowing ill. Ignorance and superstition hold meteors to be portentous

1. Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; in an ill sense.

No beast of more portentous size,

In the Hercynian forest lies.

Porter

PORTER, noun [Latin porta, a gate.]

1. A man that has the charge of a door or gate; a door-keeper.

2. One that waits at the door to receive messages.

3. [Latin porto.] A carrier; a person who carries or conveys burdens for hire.

4. A malt liquor which differs from ale and pale beer, in being made with high dried malt.

Porterage

PORTERAGE, noun Money charged or paid for the carriage of burdens by a porter.

1. The business of a porter or door-keeper.

Porteress

PORTERESS, noun [from porter.] A female guardian of a gate.

Porterly

PORTERLY, adjective Coarse; vulgar. [Little used.]

Portesse

PORTESSE. [See Portass.]

Portfolio

PORTFOLIO, noun [Latin folium.] A case of the size of a large book, to keep loose papers in.

To have or hold the portfolio is to hold the office of minister of foreign affairs.

Portglave

PORTGLAVE, noun A sword-bearer. [Not in use.]

Portgrave

PORTGRAVE

PORTGREVE

PORTICO, noun [Latin porticus, form porta or portus.] In architecture, a kind of gallery on the ground, or a piazza encompassed with arches supported by columns; a covered walk. The roof is sometimes flat; sometimes vaulted.

Portgreve

PORTGREVE

Portico

PORTICO, n. [L. porticus, form porta or portus.] In architecture, a kind of gallery on the ground, or a piazza encompassed with arches supported by columns; a covered walk. The roof is sometimes flat; sometimes vaulted.

Portion

PORTION, noun [Latin portio, from partio, to divide, from pars, part. See Part.]

1. In general, a part of any thing separated from it. Hence,

2. A part, though not actually divided, but considered by itself.

These are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him. Job 26:14.

3. A part assigned; an allotment; a dividend.

How small

A portion to your share would fall.

The priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh. Genesis 47:22.

4. The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate.

5. A wife's fortune.

PORTION, verb transitive To divide; to parcel; to allot a share or shares.

And portion to his tribes the wide domain.

1. To endow.

Him portion'd maids, apprentic'd orphans blest.

Portioned

PORTIONED, participle passive Divided into shares or parts.

1. Endowed; furnished with a portion.

Portioner

PORTIONER, noun One who divides or assigns in shares.

Portioning

PORTIONING, participle present tense Dividing; endowing.

Portionist

PORTIONIST, noun One who has a certain academical allowance or portion.

1. The incumbent of a benefice which has more rectors or vicars than one.

Portland-Stone

PORTLAND-STONE, noun A compact sandstone from the isle of Portland in England, which forms a calcarious cement.

Portlast

PORTLAST

PORTLID, noun The lid that closes a porthole.

Portlid

PORTLID, n. The lid that closes a porthole.

Portliness

PORTLINESS, noun [from portly.] Dignity of mien or of personal appearance, consisting in size and symmetry of body, with dignified manners and demeanor.

Portly

PORTLY, adjective [from port.] Grand or dignified in mien; of a noble appearance and carriage.

1. Bulky; corpulent.

Portmanteau

PORTMAN'TEAU, noun [Latin mantele.] A bag usually made of leather, for carrying apparel and other furniture on journeys, particularly on horseback.

Portoise

PORTOISE, noun The gunwale of a ship.

To lower the yards a portlast, is to lower them to the gunwale.

To ride a portoise is to have the lower yards and top-masts struck or lowered down, when at anchor in a gale of wind.

Portrait

PORTRAIT, noun [Eng. to portray; pour; for, fore, and traire; Latin trahere; Eng. to draw.] A picture or representation of a person, and especially of a face, drawn from the life.

In portraits, the grace, and we may add, the likeness, consist more in the general air than in the exact similitude of every feature.

PORTRAIT, verb transitive To portray; to draw. [Not used.]

Portraiture

PORTRAITURE, noun A portrait; painted resemblance.

Portray

PORTRA'Y, verb transitive

1. To paint or draw the likeness of any thing in colors; as, to portray a king on horseback; to portray a city or temple with a pencil or with chalk.

2. To describe in words. It belongs to the historian to portray the character of Alexander of Russia. Homer portrays the character and achievements of his heroes in glowing colors.

3. To adorn with pictures; as shields portrayed.

Portrayed

PORTRA'YED, participle passive Painted or drawn to the life; described.

Portrayer

PORTRA'YER, noun One who paints, draws to the life or describes.

Portraying

PORTRA'YING, participle present tense Painting or drawing the likeness of; describing.

Portreeve

PORTREEVE, noun [Latin portus, a port.] Formerly, the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town. This officer is now called mayor or bailiff.

Portress

PORTRESS

PORTREVE, noun [The modern orthography of portgreve, which see.]

The chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.

Portreve

PORTREVE, n. [The modern orthography of portgreve, which see.]

The chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.

Porwigle

POR'WIGLE, noun A tadpole; a young frog. [Not used.]

Pory

PORY, adjective [from pore.] Full of pores or small interstices.

Pose

POSE, noun s as z. [See the Verb.] In heraldry, a lion, horse or other beast standing still, with all his feet on the ground.

POSE, noun s as z. A stuffing of the head; catarrh.

POSE, verb transitive s as z. [Latin posui.]

1. To puzzle, [a word of the same origin; ] to set; to put to a stand or stop; to gravel.

Learning was pos'd, philosophy was set.

I design not to pose them with those common enigmas of magnetism.

2. To puzzle or put to a stand by asking difficult questions; to set by questions; hence, to interrogate closely, or with a view to scrutiny.

Posed

PO'SED, pp. Puzzled; put to a stand; interrogated closely.

Poser

PO'SER, noun One that puzzles by asking difficult questions; a close examiner.

Posing

PO'SING, participle present tense Puzzling; putting to a stand; questioning closely.

Posited

POS'ITED, adjective [Latin positus, from pono, to put; probably however, pono is a different root, and positus from the root of pose.]

Put; set; placed.

Position

POSI'TION, noun [Latin positio, form positus. See Pose and Posited.]

1. State of being placed; situation; often with reference to other objects, or to different parts of the same object.

We have different prospects of the same thing according to our different positions to it.

2. Manner of standing or being placed; attitude; as an inclining position

3. Principle laid down; proposition advanced or affirmed as a fixed principle, or stated as the ground of reasoning, or to be proved.

Let not the proof of any position depend on the positions that follow, but always on those which precede.

4. The advancement of any principle.

5. State; condition.

Great Britain, at the peace of 1763, stood in a position to prescribe her own terms.

6. In grammar, the state of a vowel placed between two consonants, as in pompous, or before a double consonant, as in axle. In prosody, vowels are said to be long or short by position

Positional

POSI'TIONAL, adjective Respecting position. [Not used.]

Positive

POS'ITIVE, adjective [Low Latin positivus.]

1. Properly, set; laid down; expressed; direct; explicit; opposed to implied; as, he told us in positive words; we have his positive declaration to the fact; the testimony is positive

2. Absolute; express; not admitting any condition or discretion. The commands of the admiral are positive

3. Absolute; real; existing in fact; opposed to negative, as positive good, which exists by itself, whereas negative good is merely the absence of evil; or opposed to relative or arbitrary, as beauty is not a positive thing, but depends on the different tastes of people.

4. Direct; express; opposed to circumstantial; as positive proof.

5. Confident; fully assured; applied to persons. The witness is very positive that he is correct in his testimony.

6. Dogmatic; over-confident in opinion or assertion.

Some positive persisting fops we know,

That, if once wrong, will needs be always so.

7. Settled by arbitrary appointment; opposed to natural or inbred.

In laws, that which is natural, bindeth universally; that which is positive not so.

Although no laws but positive are mutable, yet all are not mutable which are positive

8. Having power to act directly; as a positive voice in legislation.

Positive degree, in grammar, is the state of an adjective which denotes simple or absolute quality, without comparison or relation to increase or diminution; as wise, noble.

Positive electricity, according to Dr. Franklin, consists in a superabundance of the fluid in a substance. Others suppose it to consist in a tendency of the fluid outwards. It is not certain in what consists the difference between positive and negative electricity. positive electricity being produced by rubbing glass, is called the vitreous; negative electricity, produced by rubbing amber or resin, is called the resinous.

POS'ITIVE, noun What is capable of being affirmed; reality.

1. That which settles by absolute appointment.

2. In grammar, a word that affirms or asserts existence.

Positively

POS'ITIVELY, adverb Absolutely; by itself, independent of any thing else; not comparatively.

Good and evil removed may be esteemed good or evil comparatively, and not positively or simply.

1. Not negatively; really; in its own nature; directly; inherently. A thing is positively good, when it produces happiness by its own qualities or operation. It is negatively good, when it prevents an evil, or does not produce it.

2. Certainly; indubitably. This is positively your handwriting.

3. Directly; explicitly; expressly. The witness testified positively to the fact.

4. Peremptorily; in strong terms.

The divine law positively requires humility and meekness.

5. With full confidence or assurance. I cannot speak positively in regard to the fact.

Positively electrified, in the science of electricity. A body is said to be positively electrified or charged with electric matter, when it contains a superabundance of the fluid, and negatively electrified or charged, when some part of the fluid which it naturally contains, has been taken from it.

According to other theorists, when the electric fluid is directed outwards from a body, the substance is electrified positively; but when it is entering or has a tendency to enter another substance, the body is supposed to be negatively electrified. The two species of electricity attract each other, and each repels its own kind.

Positiveness

POS'ITIVENESS, noun Actualness; reality of existence; not mere negation.

The positiveness of sins of commission lies both in the habitude of the will and in the executed act too; the positiveness of sins of omission is in the habitude of the will only.

1. Undoubting assurance; full confidence; peremptoriness; as, the man related the facts with positiveness In matters of opinion, positiveness is not an indication of prudence.

Positivity

POSITIV'ITY, noun Peremptoriness. [Not used.]

Positure

POSITURE, for posture, is not in use. [See Posture.]

Posnet

POS'NET, noun [See Pose.] A little basin; a porringer, skillet or saucepan.

Posological

POSOLOG'ICAL, adjective Pertaining to posology.

Posology

POSOL'OGY, noun [Gr. how much, and discourse.]

In medicine, the science or doctrine of doses.

Pospolite

POS'POLITE, noun A kind of militia in Poland, consisting of the gentry, who in case of invasion, are summoned to arms for the defense of the country.

Posse comitatus, in law, the power of the country, or the citizens, who are summoned to assist an officer in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed. The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone is used in the same sense.

1. In low language, a number or crowd of people; a rabble.

Possess

POSSESS', verb transitive [Latin possessus, possideo, a compound of po, a Russian preposition, perhaps by, and sedeo, to sit; to sit in or on.

1. To have the just and legal title, ownership or property of a thing; to own; to hold the title of, as the rightful proprietor, or to hold both the title and the thing. A man may possess the farm which he cultivates, or he may possess an estate in a foreign country, not in his own occupation. He may possess many farms which are occupied by tenants. In this as in other cases, the original sense of the word is enlarged, the holding or tenure being applied to the title or right, as well as to the thing itself.

2. To hold; to occupy without title or ownership.

I raise up the Chaldeans, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. Habakkuk 1:6.

Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own. Acts 4:32.

3. To have; to occupy. The love of the world usually possesses the heart.

4. To seize; to gain; to obtain the occupation of.

The English marched towards the river Eske, intending to possess a hill called Under-Eske.

5. To have power over; as an invisible agent or spirit.

Luke 8:36.

Beware what spirit rages in your breast;

For ten inspired, ten thousand are possess'd.

6. To affect by some power.

Let not your ears despise my tongue,

Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound

That ever yet they heard.

To possess of, or with, more properly to possess of, is to give possession, command or occupancy.

Of fortune's favor long possess'd

This possesses us of the most valuable blessing of human life, friendship.

To possess one's self of, to take or gain possession or command; to make one's self master of.

We possessed ourselves of the kingdom of Naples.

To possess with, to furnish or fill with something permanent; or to be retained.

It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention.

If they are possessed with honest minds.

Possessed

POSSESS'ED, participle passive Held by lawful title; occupied; enjoyed; affected by demons or invisible agents.

Possessing

POSSESS'ING, participle present tense Having or holding by absolute right or title; occupying; enjoying.

Possession

POSSES'SION, noun The having, holding or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy, either rightful or wrongful. One man may have the possession of a thing, and another may have the right of possession or property.

If the possession is severed from the property; if A has the right of property, and B by unlawful means has gained possession this is an injury to adjective This is a bare or naked possession

In bailment, the bailee, who receives goods to convey, or to keep for a time, has the possession of the goods, and a temporary right over them, but not the property. Property in possession includes both the right and the occupation. Long undisturbed possession is presumptive proof of right or property in the possessor.

1. The thing possessed; land, estate or goods owned; as foreign possessions.

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Obadiah 1:17.

When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19:22.

2. Any thing valuable possessed or enjoyed. Christian peace of mind is the best possession of life.

3. The state of being under the power of demons or invisible beings; madness; lunacy; as demoniacal possession

Writ of possession a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment.

To take possession to enter on, or to bring within one's power or occupancy.

To give possession to put in another's power or occupancy.

POSSES'SION, verb transitive To invest with property. [Not used.]

Possessioner

POSSES'SIONER, noun One that has possession of a thing, or power over it. [Little used.]

Possessive

POSSESS'IVE, adjective [Latin possessivus.] Pertaining to possession; having possession.

Possessive case, in English grammar, is the genitive case, or case of nouns and pronouns, which expresses, 1st, possession, ownership, as John's book; or 2dly, some relation of one thing to another, as Homer's admirers.

Possessor

POSSESS'OR, noun An occupant; one that has possession; a person who holds in his hands or power any species of property, real or personal. The owner or proprietor of property is the permanent possessor by legal right; the lessee of land and the bailee of goods are temporary possessors by right; the disseizor of land and the thief are wrongful possessors.

1. One that has, holds or enjoys any good or other thing.

Think of the happiness of the prophets and apostles, saints and martyrs, possessors of eternal glory.

Possessory

POSSESS'ORY, adjective Having possession; as a possessory lord.

Possessory action, in law, an action or suit in which the right of possession only, and not that of property, is contested.

Posset

POS'SET, noun [Latin posca.] Milk curdled with wine or other liquor.

POS'SET, verb transitive To curdle; to turn.

Possibility

POSSIBIL'ITY, noun [from possible.] The power of being or existing; the power of happening; the state of being possible. It often implies improbability or great uncertainty. There is a possibility that a new star may appear this night. There is a possibility of a hard frost in July in our latitude. It is not expedient to hazard much on the bare possibility of success. It is prudent to reduce contracts to writing, and to render them so explicit as to preclude the possibility of mistake or controversy.

Possible

POS'SIBLE, adjective [Latin possibilis, from posse. See Power.]

That may be or exist; that may be now, or may happen or come to pass; that may be done; not contrary to the nature of things. It is possible that the Greeks and Turks may now be engaged in battle. It is possible that peace of Europe may continue a century. It is not physically possible that a stream should ascend a mountain, but it is possible that the Supreme Being may suspend a law of nature, that is, his usual course of proceeding. It is not possible that 2 and 3 should be 7, or that the same action should be morally right and morally wrong.

This word when pronounced with a certain emphasis, implies improbability. A thing is possible but very improbable.

Possibly

POS'SIBLY, adverb By any power, moral or physical, really existing. Learn all that can possibly be known.

Can we possibly his love desert?

1. Perhaps; without absurdity.

Arbitrary power tends to make a man a bad sovereign, who might possibly have been a good one, had he been invested with authority circumscribed by laws.

Post

POST, adjective Suborned; hired to do what is wrong. [Not in use.]

POST, noun [Latin postis, from positus, the given participle of pono, to place.]

1. A piece of timber set upright, usually larger than a stake, and intended to support something else; as the posts of a house; the posts of a door; the posts of a gate; the posts of a fence.

2. A military station; the place where a single soldier or a body of troops is stationed. The sentinel must not desert his post The troops are ordered to defend the post Hence,

3. The troops stationed in a particular place, or the ground they occupy.

4. A public office or employment, that is, a fixed place or station.

When vice prevails and impious men bear sway,

The post of honor is a private station.

5. A messenger or a carrier of letters and papers; one that goes at stated times to convey the mail or dispatches. This sense also denotes fixedness, either from the practice of using relays of horses stationed at particular places, or of stationing men for carrying dispatches, or from the fixed stages where they were to be supplied with refreshment. [See Stage.] Xenophon informs us the Cyrus, king of Persia, established such stations or houses.

6. A seat or situation.

7. A sort of writing paper, such as is used for letters; letter paper.

8. An old game at cards.

To ride post to be employed to carry dispatches and papers, and as such carriers rode in haste, hence the phrase signifies to ride in haste, to pass with expedition. post is used also adverbially, for swiftly, expeditiously, or expressly.

Sent from Media post to Egypt.

Hence, to travel post is to travel expeditiously by the use of fresh horses taken at certain stations.

Knight of the post a fellow suborned or hired to do a bad action.

POST, verb intransitive To travel with speed.

And post o'er land and ocean without rest.

POST, verb transitive To fix to a post; as, to post a notification.

1. To expose to public reproach by fixing the name to a post; to expose to opprobrium by some public action; as, to post a coward.

2. To advertise on a post or in a public place; as, to post a stray horse.

3. To set; to place; to station; as, to post troops on a hill, or in front or on the flank of an army.

4. In book-keeping, to carry accounts from the waste-book or journal to the ledger.

To post off, to put off; to delay. [Not used.]

POST, a Latin preposition, signifying after. It is used in this sense in composition in many English words.

Post-Chaise

POST-CHAISE, noun [See Chaise.] A carriage with four wheels for the conveyance of travelers.

Post-Disseizin

POST-DISSE'IZIN, noun A subsequent disseizin. A writ of post-disseizin is intended to put in possession a person who has been disseized after a judgment to recover the same lands of the same person, under the statute of Merton.

Post-Disseizor

POST-DISSE'IZOR, noun A person who disseizes another of lands which he had before recovered of the same person.

Post-Existence

POST-EXIST'ENCE, noun Subsequent or future existence.

Post-Fine

POST-FINE, noun In English law, a fine due to the king by prerogative, after a licentia concordandi given in a fine of lands and tenements; called also the king's silver.

Post-Hackney

POST-HACK'NEY, noun [post and hackney.] A hired posthorse.

Post-Haste

POST-HASTE, noun Haste or speed in traveling, like that of a post or courier.

POST-HASTE, adverb With speed or expedition. He traveled post-haste that is, by an ellipsis, with post-haste

Post-Horse

POST-HORSE, noun A horse stationed for the use of couriers.

Post-House

POST-HOUSE, noun A house where a post-office is kept for receiving and dispatching letters by public mails; a post-office.

[The latter word is now in general use.]

Post-Note

POST-NOTE, noun [post and note.] In commerce, a bank note intended to be transmitted to a distant place by the public mail, and made payable to order. In this it differs from a common bank note, which is payable to the bearer.

Post-Office

POST-OFFICE, noun An office or house where letters are received for delivery to the persons to whom they are addressed, or to be transmitted to other places in the public mails; a post-house.

Post-Paid

POST-PAID, adjective Having the postage paid on; as a letter.

Post-Town

POST-TOWN, noun A town in which a post-office is established by law.

1. A town in which post-horses are kept.

Postable

POSTABLE, adjective That may be carried. [Not used.]

Postage

POSTAGE, noun The price established by law to be paid for the conveyance of a letter in a public mail.

1. A portage. [Not used.]

Postboy

POSTBOY, noun A boy that rides as post; a courier.

Postdate

POSTDA'TE, verb transitive [Latin post, after, and date, Latin datum.]

To date after the real time; as, to postdate a contract, that is, to date it after the true time of making the contract.

Postdiluvial

POSTDILU'VIAL

POSTDILU'VIAN, adjective [Latin post, after, and diluvium, the deluge.]

Being or happening posterior to the flood in Noah's days.

POSTDILU'VIAN, noun A person who lived after the flood, or who has lived since that event.

Postdiluvian

POSTDILU'VIAN, a. [L. post, after, and diluvium, the deluge.]

Being or happening posterior to the flood in Noah's days.

POSTDILU'VIAN, n. A person who lived after the flood, or who has lived since that event.

Postea

POSTEA, noun [Latin] The record of what is done in a cause subsequent to the joining of issue and awarding of trial.

Posted

POSTED, participle passive Placed; stationed.

1. Exposed on a post or by public notice.

2. Carried to a ledger, as accounts.

Poster

POSTER, noun One who posts; also, a courier; one that travels expeditiously.

Posterior

POSTE'RIOR, adjective [from Latin posterus, from post.]

1. Later or subsequent in time.

Hesiod was posterior to Homer.

2. Later in the order of proceeding or moving; coming after. [Unfrequent.]

Posteriority

POSTERIOR'ITY, noun The state of being later or subsequent; as posteriority of time or of an event; opposed to priority.

Posteriors

POSTE'RIORS, noun plural The hinder parts of an animal body.

Posterity

POSTER'ITY, noun [Latin posteritas, from posterus, from post, after.]

1. Descendants; children, children's children, etc. indefinitely; the race that proceeds from a progenitor. The whole human race are the posterity of Adam.

2. In a general sense, succeeding generations; opposed to ancestors.

To the unhappy that unjustly bleed,

Heav'n gives posterity t' avenge the deed.

Postern

POSTERN, noun [Latin post, behind.]

1. Primarily, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.

2. In fortification , a small gate, usually in the angle of the flank of a bastion, or in that of the curtain or near the orillon, descending into the ditch.

POSTERN, adjective Back; being behind; private.

Postfix

POSTFIX, noun [Latin post, after, and fix.] In grammar, a letter, syllable or word added to the end of another word; a suffix.

POSTFIX', verb transitive To add or annex a letter, syllable or word, to the end of another or principal word.

Postfixed

POSTFIX'ED, participle passive Added to the end of a word.

Postfixing

POSTFIX'ING, participle present tense Adding to the end of a word.

Posthume

POST'HUME, adjective Posthumous. [Not used.]

Posthumous

POST'HUMOUS, adjective [Latin post, after, and humus, earth; humatus, buried.]

1. Born after the death of the father, or taken from the dead body of the mother; as a posthumous son or daughter.

2. Published after the death of the author; as posthumous works.

3. Being after one's decease; as a posthumous character.

Posthumously

POST'HUMOUSLY, adverb After one's decease.

Postic

POSTIC, adjective [Latin posticus.] Backward. [Not used.]

Postil

POS'TIL, noun [Latin post.] A marginal note; originally, a note in the margin of the Bible, so called because written after the text.

POS'TIL, verb transitive To write marginal notes; to gloss; to illustrate with marginal notes.

Postiler

POS'TILER, noun One who writes marginal notes; one who illustrates the text of a book by notes in the margin.

Postillion

POSTILLION, noun postil'yon. One that rides and guides the first pair of horses in a coach or other carriage; also, one that rides one of the horses, when one pair only is used, either in a coach or post-chaise.

Posting

POSTING, participle present tense Setting up on a post; exposing the name or character to reproach by public advertisement.

1. Placing; stationing.

2. Transferring accounts to a ledger.

Postliminiar

POSTLIMIN'IAR

POSTLIMIN'IOUS, adjective [See Postliminium.] Contrived, done or existing subsequently; as a post-liminious application.

Postliminious

POSTLIMIN'IOUS, a. [See Postliminium.] Contrived, done or existing subsequently; as a post-liminious application.

Postliminium

POSTLIMIN'IUM

POSTLIM'INY, noun [Latin post, after, and limen, end, limit.]

Postliminium, among the Romans, was the return of a person to his own country who had gone to sojourn in a foreign country, or had been banished or taken by an enemy.

In the modern law of nations, the right of postliminy is that by virtue of which, persons and things taken by an enemy in war, are restored to their former state, when coming again under the power of the nation to which they belonged. The sovereign of a country is bound to protect the person and the property of his subjects; and a subject who has suffered the loss of his property by the violence of war, on being restored to his country, can claim to be re-established in all his rights, and to recover his property. But this right does not extend, in all cases, to personal effects or movables, on account of the difficulty of ascertaining their identity.

Postliminy

POSTLIM'INY, n. [L. post, after, and limen, end, limit.]

Postliminium, among the Romans, was the return of a person to his own country who had gone to sojourn in a foreign country, or had been banished or taken by an enemy. In the modern law of nations, the right of postliminy is that by virtue of which, persons and things taken by an enemy in war, are restored to their former state, when coming again under the power of the nation to which they belonged. The sovereign of a country is bound to protect the person and the property of his subjects; and a subject who has suffered the loss of his property by the violence of war, on being restored to his country, can claim to be re-established in all his rights, and to recover his property. But this right does not extend, in all cases, to personal effects or movables, on account of the difficulty of ascertaining their identity.

Postman

POSTMAN, noun A post or courier; a letter-carrier.

Postmark

POSTMARK, noun The mark or stamp of a post-office on a letter.

Postmaster

POSTMASTER, noun The officer who has the superintendence and direction of a post-office.

POSTMASTER-general, is the chief officer of the post-office department, whose duty is to make contracts for the conveyance of the public mails and see that they are executed, and who receives the moneys arising from the postage of letters, pays the expenses, keeps the accounts of the office, and superintends the whole department.

Postmeridian

POSTMERID'IAN, adjective [Latin postmeridianus. See Meridian.]

Being or belonging to the afternoon; as postmeridian sleep.

Postnate

POSTNATE, adjective [Latin post, after, and natus, born.] Subsequent. [Little used.]

Postnuptial

POSTNUPTIAL, adjective [post and nuptial.] Being or happening after marriage; as a postnuptial settlement on a wife.

Postpone

POSTPO'NE, verb transitive [Latin postpono; post, after, and pono, to put.]

1. To put off; to defer to a future or later time; to delay; as, to postpone the consideration of a bill or question to the afternoon, or to the following day.

2. To set below something else in value or importance.

All other considerations should give way and be postponed to this.

Postponed

POSTPO'NED, participle passive Delayed; deferred to a future time; set below in value.

Postponement

POSTPO'NEMENT, noun The act of deferring to a future time; temporary delay of business.

POSTP0'NENCE, noun Dislike. [Not in use.]

Postponing

POSTPO'NING, participle present tense Deferring to a future time.

Postposition

POSTPOSI'TION, noun [post and position.] The state of being put back or out of the regular place.

Postremote

POSTREMO'TE, adjective [post and remote.] More remote in subsequent time or order.

Postscript

POSTSCRIPT, noun [Latin post, after, and scriptum, written.]

A paragraph added to a letter after it is concluded and signed by the writer; or any addition made to a book or composition after it had been supposed to be finished, containing something omitted, or something new occurring to the writer.

Postulant

POS'TULANT, noun [See Postulate.] One who makes demand.

Postulate

POS'TULATE, noun [Latin postulatum, from postulo, to demand, from the root of posco, to ask or demand. The sense is to urge or push.]

A position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident, or too plain to require illustration.

A self-evident problem, answering to axiom, which is a self-evident theorem.

POS'TULATE, verb transitive [supra.] To beg or assume without proof. [Little used.]

1. To invite; to solicit; to require by entreaty.

2. To assume; to take without positive consent.

The Byzantine emperors appear to have exercised, or at least to have postulated a sort of paramount supremacy over this nation.

Postulation

POSTULA'TION, noun [Latin postulatio.] The act of supposing without proof; gratuitous assumption.

1. Supplication; intercession; also, suit; cause.

Postulatory

POS'TULATORY, adjective Assuming without proof.

1. Assumed without proof.

Postulatum

POSTULA'TUM, noun [Latin] A postulate, which see.

Posture

POS'TURE, noun [Latin positura; pono, positus.]

1. In painting and sculpture, attitude; the situation of a figure with regard to the eye, and of the several principal members with regard to each other, by which action is expressed. Postures should be accommodated to the character of the figure, and the posture of each member to its office. Postures are natural or artificial. Natural postures are such as our ordinary actions and the occasions of life lead us to exhibit; artificial postures are such as are assumed or learnt for particular purposes, or in particular occupations, as in dancing, fencing, etc.

2. Situation; condition; particular state with regard to something else; as the posture of public affairs before or after a war.

3. Situation of the body; as an abject posture

4. State; condition. The fort is in a posture of defense.

5. The situation or disposition of the several parts of the body with respect to each other, or with respect to a particular purpose.

He casts

His eyes against the moon in most strange postures.

The posture of a poetic figure is the description of the heroes in the performance of such or such an action.

6. Disposition; frame; as the posture of the soul.

POS'TURE, verb transitive To place in a particular manner; to dispose the parts of a body for a particular purpose.

He was raw with posturing himself according to the direction of the chirurgeons.

Posture-Master

POS'TURE-MASTER, noun One that teaches or practices artificial postures of the body.

Posy

PO'SY, noun s as z.

1. A motto inscribed on a ring, etc.

2. A bunch of flowers.

Pot

POT, noun

1. A vessel more deep than broad, made of earth, or iron or other metal, used for several domestic purposes; as an iron pot for boiling meat or vegetables; a pot for holding liquors; a cup, as a pot of ale; an earthen pot for plants, called a flower pot etc.

2. A sort of paper of small sized sheets.

To go to pot to be destroyed, ruined, wasted or expended. [A low phrase.]

POT, verb transitive To preserve seasoned in pots; as potted fowl and fish.

1. To inclose or cover in pots of earth.

2. To put in casks for draining; as, to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler and placing it in hogsheads with perforated heads, from which the molasses percolates through the spongy stalk of a plantain leaf.

Pot-Companion

POT-COMPAN'ION, noun An associate or companion in drinking; applied generally to habitual hard drinkers.

Pot-Hook

POT'-HOOK, noun A hook on which pots and kettles are hung over the fire.

1. A letter or character like a pot-hook; a scrawled letter.

Pot-Valiant

POT-VAL'IANT, adjective [pot and valiant.] Courageous over the cup; heated to valor by strong drink.

Potable

PO'TABLE, adjective [Low Latin potabilis; from Latin poto, to drink; potus, drink; Gr. to drink.] Drinkable; that may be drank; as water fresh and potable

Rivers run potable gold.

PO'TABLE, noun Something that may be drank.

Potableness

PO'TABLENESS, noun The quality of being drinkable.

Potage

POT'AGE, noun A species of food made of meat boiled to softness in water, usually with some vegetables or sweet herbs.

Potager

POT'AGER, noun [from potage.] A porringer.

Potagro

POTAG'RO

PO'TANCE, noun With watchmakers, the stud in which the lower pivot of the verge is placed.

Potance

PO'TANCE, n. With watchmakers, the stud in which the lower pivot of the verge is placed.

Potargo

POTAR'GO, noun A kind of pickle imported from the West Indies.

Potash

POT'ASH, noun [pot and ashes.] The popular name of vegetable fixed alkali in an impure state, procured from the ashes of plants by lixiviation and evaporation. The matter remaining after evaporation is refined in a crucible or furnace, and the extractive substance burnt off or dissipated. Refined potash is called pearlash. The plants which yield the greatest quantity of potash are wormwood and fumitory.

By recent discoveries of Sir H. Davy, it appears that potash is a metallic oxyd; the metal is called potassium, and the alkali, in books of science, is called potassa.

Potassa

POTAS'SA, noun The scientific name of vegetable alkali or potash.

Potassium

POTAS'SIUM, noun A name given to the metallic basis of vegetable alkali. According to Dr. Davy, 100 parts of potash consist of 86.1 parts of the basis, and 13.9 of oxygen.

Potassium has the most powerful affinity for oxygen of all substances known; it takes it from every other compound, and hence is a most important agent in chimical analysis.

Potation

POTA'TION, noun [Latin potatio. See Potable.]

1. A drinking or drinking bout.

2. A draught.

3. A species of drink.

Potato

POTA'TO, noun A plant and esculent root of the genus Solanum, a native of America. The root of this plant, which is usually called potatoe, constitutes one of the cheapest and most nourishing species of vegetable food; it is the principal food of the poor in some countries, and has often contributed to prevent famine. It was introduced into the British dominions by Sir Walter Raleigh or other adventurers in the 16th century; but is came slowly into use, and at this day is not much cultivated and used in some countries of Europe. In the British dominions and in the United States, it has proved one of the greatest blessings bestowed on man by the Creator.

POT'-BELLIED, adjective Having a prominent belly.

POT'-BELLY, noun A protuberant belly.

Potch

POTCH, verb transitive [Eng. to poke.] To thrust; to push. [Not used.]

1. To poach; to boil slightly. [Not used.]

Potelot

PO'TELOT, noun The sulphuret of molybden.

Potence

PO'TENCE, noun In heraldry, a cross whose ends resemble the head of a crutch.

Potency

PO'TENCY, noun [Latin potentia, from potens; possum, posse. See Power.]

1. Power; physical power, energy or efficacy; strength.

2. Moral power; influence; authority.

Now arriving

At place of potency and sway o' th' state.

Potent

PO'TENT, adjective [Latin potens.] Powerful; physically strong; forcible; efficacious; as a potent medicine.

Moses once more his potent rod extends.

1. Powerful, in a moral sense; having great influence; as potent interest; a potent argument.

2. Having great authority, control or dominion; as a potent prince.

PO'TENT, noun A prince; a potentate. [Not in use.]

1. A walking staff or crutch. [Not used.]

Potentacy

PO'TENTACY, noun Sovereignty. [Not used.]

Potentate

PO'TENTATE, noun A person who possesses great power or sway; a prince; a sovereign; an emperor, king or monarch.

Exalting him not only above earthly princes and potentates, but above the highest of the celestial hierarchy.