Peabody bird
Pea"bod•y bird (Zoöl.) An American sparrow ( Zonotrichia albicollis) having a conspicuous white throat. The name is imitative of its note. Called also White- throated sparrow.

Peace, n. [OE. pees, pais, OF. pais, paiz, pes, F. paix, L. pax, pacis, akin to pacere, paciscere, pacisci, to make an agreement, and prob. also pangere to fasten. Cf. Appease, Fair, a. , Fay, v. , Fang, Pacify, Pact, Pay to requite.] A state of quiet or tranquillity; freedom from disturbance or agitation; calm; repose; specifically: (a) Exemption from, or cessation of, war with public enemies. (b) Public quiet, order, and contentment in obedience to law. (c) Exemption from, or subjection of, agitating passions; tranquillity of mind or conscience. (d) Reconciliation; agreement after variance; harmony; concord. "The eternal love and pees." Chaucer. Peace is sometimes used as an exclamation in commanding silence, quiet, or order. "Peace! foolish woman." Shak. At peace, in a state of peace. — Breach of the peace. See under Breach. — Justice of the peace. See under Justice. — Peace of God. (Law) (a) A term used in wills, indictments, etc., as denoting a state of peace and good conduct. (b) (Theol.) The peace of heart which is the gift of God. — Peace offering. (a) (Jewish Antiq.) A voluntary offering to God in token of devout homage and of a sense of friendly communion with Him. (b) A gift or service offered as satisfaction to an offended person. — Peace officer, a civil officer whose duty it is to preserve the public peace, to prevent riots, etc., as a sheriff or constable. — To hold one’s peace, to be silent; to refrain from speaking. — To make one’s peace with, to reconcile one with, to plead one’s cause with, or to become reconciled with, another. "I will make your peace with him." Shak.

Peace, v. t. & i. To make or become quiet; to be silent; to stop. [R.] "Peace your tattlings." Shak.
"When the thunder would not peace at my bidding." Shak.

Peaceable
Peace´a•ble, a. [OE. peisible, F. paisible.] Begin in or at peace; tranquil; quiet; free from, or not disposed to, war, disorder, or excitement; not quarrelsome. — Peace´a•ble•ness, n. — Peace´a•bly, adv.
Syn. — Peaceful; pacific; tranquil; quiet; mild; undisturbed; serene; still. — Peaceable, Peaceful. Peaceable describes the state of an individual, nation, etc., in reference to external hostility, attack, etc.; peaceful, in respect to internal disturbance. The former denotes "in the spirit of peace;" latter; "in the possession or enjoyment of peace." A peaceable adjustment of difficulties; a peaceful life, scene.

Peaceful
Peace´ful, a.
1. Possessing or enjoying peace; not disturbed by war, tumult, agitation, anxiety, or commotion; quiet; tranquil; as a peaceful time; a peaceful country; a peaceful end.
2. Not disposed or tending to war, tumult or agitation; pacific; mild; calm; peaceable; as peaceful words.
Syn. — See Peaceable. —Peace´ful•ly, adv. . — Peace´ful•ness, n.

Peacemaker
Peace´mak•er, n. One who makes peace by reconciling parties that are at variance. Matt. v. 9. —Peace´mak•ing, n.

Peach, v. t. [See Appeach, Impeach.] To accuse of crime; to inform against. [Obs.] Foxe.

Peach, v. i. To turn informer; to betray one’s accomplice. [Obs. or Colloq.]
"If I be ta’en, I’ll peach for this." Shak.

Peach, n. [OE. peche, peshe, OF. pesche, F. pêche, fr. LL. persia, L. Persicum (sc. malum) a Persian apple, a peach. Cf. Persian, and Parsee.] (Bot.) A well-known high-flavored juicy fruit, containing one or two seeds in a hard almond-like endocarp or stone; also the tree which bears it ( Prunus, or Amygdalus Persica). In the wild stock the fruit is hard and inedible. Guinea, or Sierra Leone, peach, the large edible berry of the Sarcocephalus esculentus, a rubiaceous climbing shrub of west tropical Africa. — Palm peach, the fruit of a Venezuelan palm tree ( Bactris speciosa). — Peach color, the pale red color of the peach blossom. — Peach-tree borer (Zoöl.), the larva of a clearwing moth ( AEgeria, or Sannina, exitiosa) of the family AEgeriidae, which is very destructive to peach trees by boring in the wood, usually near the ground; also the moth itself. See Illust. under Borer.

Peach-colored
Peach´-col•ored, a. Of the color of a peach blossom. "Peach-colored satin." Shak.

Peacher
Peach´er, n. One who peaches. [Low] Foxe.

Peachick
Pea´chick, n. (Zoöl.) The chicken of the peacock.

Peachy
Peach´y, a. Resembling a peach or peaches.

Peacock
Pea´cock, n. [OE. pecok. Pea- in this word is from AS. peá, pawa, peacock, fr. L. pavo, prob. of Oriental origin; cf. Gr.,, Per. taus, tawus, Ar. tawus. See Cock the bird.]
1. (Zoöl.) The male of any pheasant of the genus Pavo, of which at least two species are known, native of Southern Asia and the East Indies. The upper tail coverts, which are long and capable of erection, are each marked with a black spot bordered by concentric bands of brilliant blue, green, and golden colors. The common domesticated species is Pavo cristatus. The Javan peacock ( P. muticus) is more brilliantly colored than the common species.
2. In common usage, the species in general or collectively; a peafowl. Peacock butterfly (Zoöl.), a handsome European butterfly ( Hamadryas Io) having ocelli like those of peacock. — Peacock fish (Zoöl.), the European blue-striped wrasse ( Labrus variegatus); — so called on account of its brilliant colors. Called also cook wrasse and cook. — Peacock pheasant (Zoöl.), any one of several species of handsome Asiatic pheasants of the genus Polyplectron. They resemble the peacock in color.

Peafowl
Pea´fowl, n. [See Peacock.] (Zoöl.) The peacock or peahen; any species of Pavo.

Peage
Pe´age, n. See Paage.

Peak, n. [OE. pek, AS. peac, perh of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. peac a sharp- pointed thing. Cf. Pike.]
1. A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as the peak, or front, of a cap. "Run your beard into a peak." Beau. & Fl.
2. The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point; often, the whole hill or mountain, esp. when isolated; as the Peak of Teneriffe.
"Silent upon a peak in Darien." Keats.
3. (Naut.) (a) The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail; — used in many combinations; as peak-halyards, peak-brails, etc. (b) The narrow part of a vessel’s bow, or the hold within it. (c) The extremity of an anchor fluke; the bill. [In the last sense written also pea and pee.] Fore peak. (Naut.) See under Fore.

Peak, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Peaked p. pr. & vb. n. Peaking.]
1. To rise or extend into a peak or point; to form, or appear as a peak.
"There peaketh up a mighty high mount." Holand.
2. To acquire sharpness of figure or features; hence, to look thin or sicky. "Dwindle, peak, and pine." Shak.
3. [Cf. Peek.] To pry; to peep slyly. Shak. Peak arch (Arch.), a pointed or Gothic arch.

Peak, v. t. (Naut.) To raise to a position perpendicular, or more nearly so; as to peak oars, to hold them upright; to peak a gaff or yard, to set it nearer the perpendicular.

Peaked, a.
1. Pointed; ending in a point; as a peaked roof.
2. (Oftener ) Sickly; not robust. [Colloq.]

Peaking
Peak´ing, a.
1. Mean; sneaking. [Vulgar]
2. Pining; sickly; peakish. [Colloq.]

Peakish
Peak´ish, a.
1. Of or relating to a peak; or to peaks; belonging to a mountainous region. "Her peakish spring." Drayton. "His peakish dialect." Bp. Hall.
2. Having peaks; peaked.
3. Having features thin or sharp, as from sickness; hence, sickly. [Colloq.]

Peaky
Peak´y, a.
1. Having a peak or peaks. Tennyson.
2. Sickly; peaked. [Colloq.]

Peal, n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zoöl.) A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin. [Prov. Eng.]

Peal, v. i. To appeal. [Obs.] Spencer.

Peal, n. [An abbrev. of F. appel a call, appeal, ruffle of a drum, fr. appeller to call, L. appellare. See Appeal.]
1. A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, of a multitude, etc. "A fair peal of artillery." Hayward.
"Whether those peals of praise be his or no." Shak.
"And a deep thunder, peal on peal, afar." Byron.
2. A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale; also the changes rung on a set of bells. To ring a peal. See under Ring.

Peal, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Pealed p. pr. & vb. n. Pealing.]
1. To utter or give out loud sounds.
"There let the pealing organ blow." Milton.
2. To resound; to echo.
"And the whole air pealed With the cheers of our men." Longfellow.

Peal, v. t.
1. To utter or give forth loudly; to cause to give out loud sounds; to noise abroad.
"The warrior’s name, Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame." J. Barlow.
2. To assail with noise or loud sounds.
"Nor was his ear less pealed." Milton.
3. To pour out. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Pean, n. [OF. pene, F. panne.] (Her.) One of the furs, the ground being sable, and the spots or tufts or.

Pean
Pe´an, n. A song of praise and triumph. See Paean.

Peanut
Pea´nut, n. (Bot.) The fruit of a trailing leguminous plant ( Arachis hypogaea); also the plant itself, which is widely cultivated for its fruit. The fruit is a hard pod, usually containing two or three seeds, sometimes but one, which ripen beneath the soil. Called also earthnut, groundnut, and goober.

Peanut butter
Pea"nut but"ter. A paste made by mixing ground fresh roasted peanuts with a small quantity of water or oil, and used chiefly as a relish on sandwiches, etc. { Pea´veyPea´vy }, n. [Said to be from the inventor’s name.] (Lumbering) A cant hook having the end of its lever armed with a spike.

Pear (pâr), n. [OE. pere, AS. peru, L. pirum: cf. F. poire. Cf. Perry.] (Bot.) The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree ( Pyrus communis), cultivated in many varieties in temperate climates; also the tree which bears this fruit. See Pear family, below. Pear blight. (a) (Bot.) A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees, both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that caused by a minute insect ( Xyleborus pyri), and that caused by the freezing of the sap in winter. A. J. Downing. (b) (Zoöl.) A very small beetle ( Xyleborus pyri) whose larvae bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them to wither. — Pear family (Bot.), a suborder of rosaceous plants ( Pomeae), characterized by the calyx tube becoming fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry, and hawthorn. — Pear gauge (Physics), a kind of gauge for measuring the exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; — so called because consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel. — Pear shell (Zoöl.), any marine gastropod shell of the genus Pyrula, native of tropical seas; — so called from the shape. — Pear slug (Zoöl.), the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.

Pearlaceous
Pearl•a´ceous, a. Resembling pearl or mother-of-pearl; pearly in quality or appearance.

Pearlash
Pearl´ash, n. (Chem.) A white amorphous or granular substance which consists principally of potassium carbonate, and has a strong alkaline reaction. It is obtained by lixiviating wood ashes, and evaporating the lye, and has been an important source of potassium compounds. It is used in making soap, glass, etc.

Pearl-eyed
Pearl´-eyed, a. Having a pearly speck in the eye; afflicted with the cataract.

Pearlfish
Pearl´fish, n. (Zoöl.) Any fish whose scales yield a pearl-like pigment used in manufacturing artificial pearls, as the bleak, and whitebait. { Pearl´ins, Pearl´ings } n. pl. [Prob. a corruption of purflings. See Purfle.] A kind of lace of silk or thread. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott. { Pearl´ite, Pearl´stone• } n. (Min.) A glassy volcanic rock of a grayish color and pearly luster, often having a spherulitic concretionary structure due to the curved cracks produced by contraction in cooling. See Illust. under Perlitic.

Pearly
Pearl´y, a.
1. Containing pearls; abounding with, or yielding, pearls; as pearly shells. Milton.
2. Resembling pearl or pearls; clear; pure; transparent; iridescent; as the pearly dew or flood.

Pearmain
Pear´main, n. (Bot.) The name of several kinds of apples; as the blue pearmain, winter pearmain, and red pearmain.

Pear-shaped
Pear´-shaped, a. Of the form of a pear.

Peart, a. [A variant of pert, a. ] Active; lively; brisk; smart; — often applied to convalescents; as she is quite peart to-day. [O. Eng. & Colloq. U. S.]
"There was a tricksy girl, I wot, albeit clad in gray, As peart as bird, as straight as bolt, as fresh as flowers in May." Warner (1592).

Peasant
Peas´ant, n. [OF. païsant (the i being perh. due to confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), païsan, F. paysan, fr. OF. & F. pays country, fr. L. pagus the country. See Pagan.] A countryman; a rustic; especially, one of the lowest class of tillers of the soil in European countries.
Syn. — Countryman; rustic; swain; hind.

Peasant
Peas´ant, a. Rustic, rural. Spenser.

Peasantlike
Peas´ant•like, a. Rude; clownish; illiterate.

Peasantly
Peas´ant•ly, a. Peasantlike. [Obs.] Milton.

Peasantry
Peas´ant•ry, n.
1. Peasants, collectively; the body of rustics. "A bold peasantry." Goldsmith.
2. Rusticity; coarseness. [Obs.] p. Butler.

Peascod
Peas´cod, n. The legume or pericarp, or the pod, of the pea.

Pease, n. ; obs. pl. Peases (#), Peasen (#). [See Pea.]
1. A pea. [Obs.] "A peose." "Bread … of beans and of peses." Piers Plowman.
2. A plural form of Pea. See the Note under Pea.

Peasweep
Peas´weep, n. [So called from its note.] [Prov. Eng.] (Zoöl.) (a) The pewit, or lapwing. (b) The greenfinch.

Peat, n. [Cf. Pet a fondling.] A small person; a pet; — sometimes used contemptuously. [Obs.] Shak.

Peat, n. [Prob. for beat, prop., material used to make the fire burn better, fr. AS. btan to better, mend (a fire), bt advantage. See Better, Boot advantage.] A substance of vegetable origin, consisting of roots and fibers, moss, etc., in various stages of decomposition, and found, as a kind of turf or bog, usually in low situations, where it is always more or less saturated with water. It is often dried and used for fuel. Peat bog, a bog containing peat; also peat as it occurs in such places; peat moss. — Peat moss. (a) The plants which, when decomposed, become peat. (b) A fen producing peat. (c) (Bot.) Moss of the genus Sphagnum, which often grows abundantly in boggy or peaty places. — Peat reek, the reek or smoke of peat; hence, also the peculiar flavor given to whisky by being distilled with peat as fuel. [Scot.]

Peba
Pe´ba, n. [Cf. Pg. peba.] (Zoöl.) An armadillo ( Tatusia novemcincta) which is found from Texas to Paraguay; — called also tatouhou.

Pebble
Peb´ble, n. [AS. papolstan; cf. L. papula pimple, mote. See Stone.]
1. A small roundish stone or bowlder; especially, a stone worn and rounded by the action of water; a pebblestone. "The pebbles on the hungry beach." Shak.
"As children gathering pebbles on the shore." Milton.
2. Transparent and colorless rock crystal; as Brazilian pebble; — so called by opticians. Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. — Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc., obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.

Pebble
Peb´ble, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pebbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Pebbling.] To grain (leather) so as to produce a surface covered with small rounded prominences.

Pebblestone
Peb´ble•stone A pebble; also pebbles collectively. "Chains of pebblestone." Marlowe.

Pebbly
Peb´bly, a. Full of pebbles; pebbled. "A hard, pebbly bottom." Johnson.

Pebrine
Pe•brine´, n. [F.] An epidemic disease of the silkworm, characterized by the presence of minute vibratory corpuscles in the blood.

Pecan
Pe•can´, n. [Cf. F. pacane the nut.] (Bot.) A species of hickory ( Carya olivaeformis), growing in North America, chiefly in the Mississippi valley and in Texas where it is one of the largest of forest trees; also its fruit, a smooth, oblong nut, an inch or an inch and a half long, with a thin shell and well-flavored meat. [Written also pacane.]

Pecary
Pec´a•ry, n. (Zoöl.) See Peccary.

Peccable
Pec´ca•ble, a. [Cf. F. peccable. See Peccant.] Liable to sin; subject to transgress the divine law. "A frail and peccable mortal." Sir W. Scott.

Peccant
Pec´cant, a. [L. peccans, -antis, p. pr. of peccare to sin: cf. F. peccant.]
1. Sinning; guilty of transgression; criminal; as peccant angels. Milton.
2. Morbid; corrupt; as peccant humors. Bacon.
3. Wrong; defective; faulty. [R.] Ayliffe.

Peccant
Pec´cant, n. An offender. [Obs.] Whitlock.

Peccantly
Pec´cant•ly, adv. In a peccant manner.

Peccary
Pec´ca•ry, n. ; pl. Peccaries (#). [From the native South American name: cf. F. pecari, Sp. pecar.] (Zoöl.) A pachyderm of the genus Dicotyles. The collared peccary, or tajacu ( Dicotyles torquatus), is about the size and shape of a small hog, and has a white ring aroung the neck. It ranges from Arkansas to Brazil. A larger species ( D. labiatus), with white cheeks, is found in South America.

Peccavi
Pec•ca´vi [L.] I have sinned; — used colloquially to express confession or acknowledgment of an offense. Aubrey.

Pecco
Pec´co, n. See Pekoe.

Pecker
Peck´er, n.
1. One who, or that which, pecks; specif., a bird that pecks holes in trees; a woodpecker.
2. An instrument for pecking; a pick. Garth. Flower pecker. (Zoöl.) See under Flower.

Peckled
Pec´kled, a. Speckled; spotted. [Obs.]

Pecopteris
Pe•cop´te•ris, n. [NL., fr. Gr. to comb + a kind of fern.] (Paleon.) An extensive genus of fossil ferns; — so named from the regular comblike arrangement of the leaflets.

Pecora
Pec´o•ra, n. pl. [NL., fr. L. pecus. See Pecuniary.] (Zoöl.) An extensive division of ruminants, including the antelopes, deer, and cattle.

Pecten
Pec´ten, n. [L. pecten, - inis, a comb, a kind of shellfish. See Pectinate.]
1. (Anat.) (a) A vascular pigmented membrane projecting into the vitreous humor within the globe of the eye in birds, and in many reptiles and fishes; — also called marsupium. (b) The pubic bone.
2. (Zoöl.) Any species of bivalve mollusks of the genus Pecten, and numerous allied genera (family Pectinidae); a scallop. See Scallop.
3. (Zoöl.) The comb of a scorpion. See Comb, 4 (b).

Pectin
Pec´tin, n. [Gr. curdled, congealed, from to make fast or stiff: cf. F. pectine.] (Chem.) One of a series of carbohydrates, commonly called vegetable jelly, found very widely distributed in the vegetable kingdom, especially in ripe fleshy fruits, as apples, cranberries, etc. It is extracted as variously colored, translucent substances, which are soluble in hot water but become viscous on cooling.

Pectinal
Pec´ti•nal, a. [L. pecten comb. See Pectinate.] Of or pertaining to a comb; resembling a comb.

Pectinal
Pec´ti•nal, n. A fish whose bone resemble comb teeth. Sir T. Browne. { Pec´ti•na•te, Pec´ti•na•ted } a. [L. pectinatus, p. pr. of pectinare to comb, from pecten, -inis, a comb; cf. Gr. to comb, AS. feax hair, OHG. fahs, E. paxwax.]
1. Resembling the teeth of a comb.
2. (Nat. Hist.) Having very narrow, close divisions, in arrangement and regularity resembling those of a comb; comblike; as a pectinate leaf; pectinated muscles. See Illust. (e) of Antennae.
3. Interlaced, like two combs. [R.] "Our fingers pectinated, or shut together." Sir T. Browne.Pectinate claw (Zoöl.), a claw having a serrate edge, found in some birds, and supposed to be used in cleaning the feathers.

Pectination
Pec•ti•na´tion, n.
1. The state of being pectinated; that which is pectinated. Sir T. Browne.
2. The act of combing; the combing of the head.
3. (Nat. Hist.) Comblike toothing.

Pectineal
Pec•tin´e•al, a. [See Pecten.] (Anat.) (a) Of or pertaining to the pecten. (b) Relating to, or connected with, the pubic bone.

Pectinibranchiata
Pec•ti•ni•bran•chi•a´ta, n. pl. [NL. See Pecten, and Branchia.] (Zoöl.) A division of Gastropoda, including those that have a comblike gill upon the neck.

Pectiniform
Pec•tin´i•form, a. Comblike in form.

Pectize
Pec•tize´, v. i. [Gr. solid.] To congeal; to change into a gelatinous mass. [R.] H. Spencer.

Pectolite
Pec´to•lite, n. [L. pecten a comb + -lite.] (Min.) A whitish mineral occurring in radiated or fibrous crystalline masses. It is a hydrous silicate of lime and soda.

Pectoral
Pec´to•ral, a. [L. pectoralis, fr. pectus, -oris the breast; cf. F. pectoral.]
1. Of or pertaining to the breast, or chest; as the pectoral muscles.
2. Relating to, or good for, diseases of the chest or lungs; as a pectoral remedy.
3. (Zoöl.) Having the breast conspicuously colored; as the pectoral sandpiper. Pectoral arch, or Pectoral girdle (Anat.), the two or more bony or cartilaginous pieces of the vertebrate skeleton to which the fore limbs are articulated; the shoulder girdle. In man it consists of two bones, the scapula and clavicle, on each side. — Pectorial cross (Eccl.), a cross worn on the breast by bishops and abbots, and sometimes also by canons. - - Pectorial fins, or Pectorials (Zoöl.), fins situated on the sides, behind the gills. See Illust. under Fin. — Pectorial rail. (Zoöl.) See Land rail (b) under Land. — Pectorial sandpiper (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe (b).

Pectoral
Pec´to•ral, n. [L. pectorale a breastplate, neut. of pectorials.]
1. A covering or protecting for the breast.
2. (Eccl.) (a) A breastplate, esp. that worn by the Jewish high person. (b) A clasp or a cross worn on the breast.
3. A medicine for diseases of the chest organs, especially the lungs.

Pectorally
Pec´to•ral•ly, adv. As connected with the breast.

Pectoriloquial
Pec•to•ri•lo´qui•al, a. [Cf. F. pectoriloque.] Pertaining to, or of the nature of, pectoriloquy.

Pectoriloquism
Pec•to•ril´o•quism, n. Pectoriloquy.

Pectoriloquous
Pec•to•ril´o•quous, a. Pectoriloquial.

Pectoriloquy
Pec•to•ril´o•quy, n. [L. pectus, -oris, the breast + loqui to speak: cf. F. pectoriloquie.] (Med.) The distinct articulation of the sounds of a patient’s voice, heard on applying the ear to the chest in auscultation. It usually indicates some morbid change in the lungs or pleural cavity.

Pectose
Pec´tose, n. [ Pectic + cellul ose.] (Chem.) An amorphous carbohydrate found in the vegetable kingdom, esp. in unripe fruits. It is associated with cellulose, and is converted into substances of the pectin group.

Pectosic
Pec•to´sic, a. (Chem.)Of, pertaining to, resembling, or derived from, pectose; specifically, designating an acid supposed to constitute largely ordinary pectin or vegetable jelly.

Pectostraca
Pec•tos´tra•ca, n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. fixed + shell of a testacean.] (Zoöl.) A degenerate order of Crustacea, including the Rhizocephala and Cirripedia.

Pectous
Pec´tous, a. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or consisting of, pectose.

Pectus
Pec´tus, n. ; pl. Pectora (#). [L., the breast.] (Zoöl.) The breast of a bird.

Pecul
Pec´ul, n. See Picul.

Peculator
Pec´u•la•tor, n. [L.] One who peculates. "Peculators of the public gold." Cowper.

Peculiar
Pe•cul´iar, a. [L. peculiaris, fr. peculium private property, akin to pecunia money: cf. OF. peculier. See Pecuniary.]
1. One’s own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not possessed by others; of private, personal, or characteristic possession and use; not owned in common or in participation.
"And purify unto himself a peculiar people." Titus ii. 14.
"Hymns … that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself." Hooker.
2. Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
"While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat." Milton.
"My fate is Juno’s most peculiar care." Dryden.
3. Unusual; singular; rare; strange; as the sky had a peculiarappearance.
Syn. — Peculiar, Special, Especial. Peculiar is from the Roman peculium, which was a thing emphatically and distinctively one’s own, and hence was dear. The former sense always belongs to peculiar (as a peculiar style, peculiar manners, etc.), and usually so much of the latter as to involve feelings of interest; as peculiar care, watchfulness, satisfaction, etc. Nothing of this kind belongs to special and especial. They mark simply the relation of species to genus, and denote that there is something in this case more than ordinary; as a special act of Congress; especial pains, etc.
"Beauty, which, either walking or asleep, Shot forth peculiar graces." Milton.
"For naught so vile that on the earth doth live, But to the earth some special good doth give." Shak.

Peculiar
Pe•cul´iar, n.
1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
"Revenge is … the peculiar of Heaven." South.
2. (Eng. Canon Law) A particular parish or church which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary. Court of Peculiars (Eng. Law), a branch of the Court of Arches having cognizance of the affairs of peculiars. Blackstone. — Dean of peculiars. See under Dean, 1.

Peculiarize
Pe•cul´iar•ize, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pecularized p. pr. & vb. n. Pecularizing ] To make peculiar; to set appart or assign, as an exclusive possession. [R.] Dr. John Smith.

Peculiarness
Pe•cul´iar•ness, n. The quality or state of being peculiar; peculiarity. Mede.

Peculium
Pe•cu´li•um, n. [L. See Peculiar.]
1. (Rom. Law) The saving of a son or a slave with the father’s or master’s consent; a little property or stock of one’s own; any exclusive personal or separate property. Burrill.
2. A special fund for private and personal uses.
"A slight peculium only subtracted to supply his snuff box and tobacco pouch." Sir W. Scott.

Pecuniarily
Pe•cun´ia•ri•ly, adv. In a pecuniary manner; as regards money.

Pecuniary
Pe•cun´ia•ry, a. [L. pecuniarius, fr. pecunia money, orig., property in cattle, fr. pecus cattle: cf. F. pecuniaire. See Fee, and cf. Peculiar.]
1. Relating to money; monetary; as a pecuniary penalty; a pecuniary reward. Burke.

Ped, n. [OE. See Peddler.] A basket; a hammer; a pannier. [Obs.] Halliwell.

Pedagogic
Ped•a•gog´ic, n. [From Pedagogic, a. ; cf. G. pedagogik.] See Pedagogics. { Ped•a•gog´ic, Ped•a•gog´ic•al } a. [Gr. : cf. F. pedagogique. See Pedagogue.] Of or pertaining to a pedagogue; suited to, or characteristic of, a pedagogue.

Pedagogism
Ped´a•gog•ism, n. [Cf. F. pedagogisme.] The system, occupation, character, or manner of pedagogues. Milton.
"Avocation of pedantry and pedagogism." De Foe.

Pedagogue
Ped´a•gogue, n. [F. pedagogue, L. paedagogus, Gr. ; pai^s, paido•s, a boy + to lead, guide; cf. leading. See Page a servant, Agent.]
1. (Gr. Antiq.) A slave who led his master’s children to school, and had the charge of them generally.
2. A teacher of children; one whose occupation is to teach the young; a schoolmaster.
3. One who by teaching has become formal, positive, or pedantic in his ways; one who has the manner of a schoolmaster; a pedant. Goldsmith.

Pedagogue
Ped´a•gogue, v. t. [Cf. L. paedagogare to instruct.] To play the pedagogue toward. [Obs.] Prior.

Pedagogy
Ped´a•go•gy, n. [Gr. : cf. F. pedagogie.] Pedagogics; pedagogism. South.

Pedal
Pe´dal, a. [L. pedalis, fr. pes, pedis, foot. See Foot, and cf. Pew.]
1. Of or pertaining to the foot, or to feet, literally or figuratively; specifically (Zoöl.), pertaining to the foot of a mollusk; as the pedal ganglion.
2. Of or pertaining to a pedal; having pedals. Pedal curve or surface (Geom.), the curve or surface which is the locus of the feet of perpendiculars let fall from a fixed point upon the straight lines tangent to a given curve, or upon the planes tangent to a given surface. — Pedal note (Mus.), the note which is held or sustained through an organ point. See Organ point, under Organ. — Pedal organ (Mus.), an organ which has pedals or a range of keys moved by the feet; that portion of a full organ which is played with the feet.

Pedal
Pe´dal, n. [Cf. F. pedale, It. pedale. See Pedal, a. ]
1. (Mech.) A lever or key acted on by the foot, as in the pianoforte to raise the dampers, or in the organ to open and close certain pipes; a treadle, as in a lathe or a bicycle.
2. (Geom.) A pedal curve or surface.

Pedality
Pe•dal´i•ty, n. The act of measuring by paces. [R.] Ash.

Pedaneous
Pe•da´ne•ous, a. [L. pedaneus of the size of a foot.] Going on foot; pedestrian. [R.]

Pedant
Ped´ant, n. [F. pedant, It. pedante, fr. Gr. to instruct, from pai^s boy. See Pedagogue.]
1. A schoolmaster; a pedagogue. [Obs.] Dryden.
"A pedant that keeps a school i’th’ church." Shak.
2. One who puts on an air of learning; one who makes a vain display of learning; a pretender to superior knowledge. Addison.
"A scholar, yet surely no pedant, was he." Goldsmith. { Pe•dan´tic, Pe•dan´tic•al } a. Of or pertaining to a pedant; characteristic of, or resembling, a pedant; ostentatious of learning; as a pedantic writer; a pedantic description; a pedantical affectation. "Figures pedantical." Shak.

Pedanticly
Pe•dan´tic•ly, adv. Pedantically. [R.]

Pedantism
Ped´ant•ism, n. The office, disposition, or act of a pedant; pedantry. [Obs.]

Pedantize
Ped´ant•ize, v. i. [Cf. F. pedantiser.] To play the pedant; to use pedantic expressions. [R.]

Pedantocracy
Ped•an•toc´ra•cy, n. [ Pedant + demo cracy.] The sway of pedants. [R.] J. S. Mill.

Pedantry
Ped´ant•ry, n. [Cf. F. pedanterie.] The act, character, or manners of a pedant; vain ostentation of learning. "This pedantry of quotation." Cowley.
"’T is a practice that savors much of pedantry." Sir T. Browne.

Pedanty
Ped´ant•y, n. An assembly or clique of pedants. [Obs.] Milton.

Pedarian
Pe•da´ri•an, n. [L. pedarius, fr. pedarius belonging to the foot, fr. pes, pedis, foot.] (Rom. Antiq.) One of a class eligible to the office of senator, but not yet chosen, who could sit and speak in the senate, but could not vote; — so called because he might indicate his opinion by walking over to the side of the party he favored when a vote was taken.

Pedary
Ped´a•ry, n. ; pl. Pedaries (#). [L. pedarius of the foot.] A sandal. [Obs.] Latimer.

Pedata
Pe•da´ta, n. pl. [NL. See Pedate.] (Zoöl.) An order of holothurians, including those that have ambulacral suckers, or feet, and an internal gill.

Pedatifid
Pe•dat´i•fid, a. [ Pedate + root of L. findere to split.] [Colloq.] Cleft in a pedate manner, but having the lobes distinctly connected at the base; — said of a leaf.

Peddle
Ped´dle, v. i. [From Peddler.]
1. To travel about with wares for sale; to go from place to place, or from house to house, for the purpose of retailing goods; as to peddle without a license.
2. To do a small business; to be busy about trifles; to piddle.

Peddle
Ped´dle, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Peddled p. pr. & vb. n. Peddling ] To sell from place to place; to retail by carrying around from customer to customer; to hawk; hence, to retail in very small quantities; as to peddle vegetables or tinware.

Peddlery
Ped´dler•y, n. [Written also pedlary and pedlery.]
1. The trade, or the goods, of a peddler; hawking; small retail business, like that of a peddler.
2. Trifling; trickery. [Obs.] "Look … into these their deceitful peddleries." Milton.

Peddling
Ped´dling, a.
1. Hawking; acting as a peddler.
2. Petty; insignificant. "The miserable remains of a peddling commerce." Burke.

Pederast
Ped´er•ast, n. [Gr. paiderasth•s; pai^s, paido•s, a boy + ’era^n to love: cf. F. pederaste.] One guilty of pederasty; a sodomite.

Pederastic
Ped•er•as´tic, a. [Gr. paiderastiko•s.] Of or pertaining to pederasty.

Pederasty
Ped´er•as•ty, n. [Gr. paiderasti•a: cf. F. pederastie.] The crime against nature; sodomy.

Pederero
Ped•e•re´ro, n. [Sp. pedrero, fr. OSp. pedra, Sp. piedra, a stone, L. petra, fr. Gr. . So named because it was at first charged with stones.] (Mil.) A term formerly applied to a short piece of chambered ordnance. [Written also paterero and peterero.]

Pedesis
Pe•de´sis, n. [NL., from Gr. a leaping.] Same as Brownian movement, under Brownian.

Pedestrial
Pe•des´tri•al, a. [L. pedester, -esteris, fr. pes, pedis, a foot: cf. F. pedestere. See Pedal.] Of or pertaining to the feet; employing the foot or feet.

Pedestrian
Pe•des´tri•an, a. Going on foot; performed on foot; as a pedestrian journey.

Pedestrian
Pe•des´tri•an, n. A walker; one who journeys on foot; a foot traveler; specif., a professional walker or runner.

Pedestrianism
Pe•des´tri•an•ism, n. The act, art, or practice of a pedestrian; walking or running; traveling or racing on foot.

Pedestrianize
Pe•des´tri•an•ize, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Pedestrianized p. pr. & vb. n. Pedestrianizing.] To practice walking; to travel on foot.

Pedetentous
Ped•e•ten´tous, a. [L. pes, pedis, foot + tendere to stretch out: cf. L. tentim by degrees.] Proceeding step by step; advancing cautiously. [R.]
"That pedetentous pace and pedetentous mind in which it behooves the wise and virtuous improver to walk." Sydney Smith. { Ped´i-, Ped´o- }. [See Foot.] Combining forms from L. pes, pedis, foot, as pedipalp, pedireme, pedometer.

Pediatric
Ped•i•at´ric (ped•i•at"rik or ped•i•at"rik), a. [Gr. pai^s, paido•s, child + ’iatrei•a healing.] (Med.) Pertaining to the care and medical treatment of children.[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Pediatrics
Ped•i•at´rics, n. That branch of medical science which treats of the hygiene and diseases of children.

Pedicel
Ped´i•cel, n. [F. pedicelle. See Pedicle.]
1. (Bot.) (a) A stalk which supports one flower or fruit, whether solitary or one of many ultimate divisions of a common peduncle. See Peduncle, and Illust. of Flower. (b) A slender support of any special organ, as that of a capsule in mosses, an air vesicle in algae, or a sporangium in ferns.
2. (Zoöl.) A slender stem by which certain of the lower animals or their eggs are attached. See Illust. of Aphis lion.
3. (Anat.) (a) The ventral part of each side of the neural arch connecting with the centrum of a vertebra. (b) An outgrowth of the frontal bones, which supports the antlers or horns in deer and allied animals.

Pedicellaria
Ped•i•cel•la´ri•a, n. ; pl. Pedicellariae (#). [NL. See Pedicel.] (Zoöl.) A peculiar forcepslike organ which occurs in large numbers upon starfishes and echini. Those of starfishes have two movable jaws, or blades, and are usually nearly, or quite, sessile; those of echini usually have three jaws and a pedicel. See Illustration in Appendix.

Pedicellina
Ped•i•cel•li´na, n. [NL. See Pedicel.] (Zoöl.) A genus of Bryozoa, of the order Entoprocta, having a bell-shaped body supported on a slender pedicel. See Illust. under Entoprocta.

Pediculate
Pe•dic´u•late, a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Pediculati.

Pediculati
Pe•dic•u•la´ti, n. pl. [NL. See Pedicle.] (Zoöl.) An order of fishes including the anglers. See Illust. of Angler and Batfish.

Pedicule
Ped´i•cule, n. [See Pedicle.] A pedicel.

Pediculus
Pe•dic´u•lus, n. ; pl. Pediculi (#). [L., a louse.] (Zoöl.) A genus of wingless parasitic Hemiptera, including the common lice of man. See Louse.

Pediform
Ped´i•form, a. [ Pedi- + - form.] Shaped like a foot.

Pedigerous
Pe•dig´er•ous, a. [ Pedi- + -gerous.] (Zoöl.) Bearing or having feet or legs.

Pedigree
Ped´i•gree, n. [Of unknown origin; possibly fr. F. par degres by degrees, — for a pedigree is properly a genealogical table which records the relationship of families by degrees; or, perh., fr. F. pied de grue crane’s foot, from the shape of the heraldic genealogical trees.]
1. A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors.
"Alterations of surnames … have obscured the truth of our pedigrees." Camden.
"His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree." Milton.
"I am no herald to inquire of men’s pedigrees." Sir P. Sidney.
"The Jews preserved the pedigrees of their tribes." Atterbury.
2. (Stock Breeding) A record of the lineage or strain of an animal, as of a horse.

Pedigree clause
Ped"i•gree clause. A clause sometimes inserted in contracts or specifications, requiring that a material of construction, as cement, must be of a brand that has stood the test of a specified number of years’ use in an important public work. [Cant, U. S.]

Pediluvy
Ped´i•lu•vy, n. [ Pedi- + L. luere to wash: cf. It. & Sp. pediluvio, F. pediluve.] The bathing of the feet, a bath for the feet. [Obs.]

Pedimana
Pe•dim´a•na, n. pl. [NL., fr. L. pes, pedis, foot + manus hand.] (Zoöl.) A division of marsupials, including the opossums.

Pedimane
Ped´i•mane, n. [Cf. F. pedimane.] (Zoöl.) A pedimanous marsupial; an opossum.

Pedimanous
Pe•dim´a•nous, a. [See Pedimana.] (Zoöl.) Having feet resembling hands, or with the first toe opposable, as the opossums and monkeys.

Pedipalp
Ped´i•palp, n. [Cf. F. pedipalpe.] (Zoöl.) One of the Pedipalpi.

Pedipalpi
Ped•i•pal´pi, n pl. [NL. See Pedipalpus.] (Zoöl.) A division of Arachnida, including the whip scorpions ( Thelyphonus) and allied forms. Sometimes used in a wider sense to include also the true scorpions.

Pedipalpus
Ped•i•pal´pus, n. ; pl. Pedipalpi (#). [NL. See Pes, and Palpus.] (Zoöl.) One of the second pair of mouth organs of arachnids. In some they are leglike, but in others, as the scorpion, they terminate in a claw.

Pedobaptist
Pe•do•bap´tist, n. One who advocates or practices infant baptism. [Written also paedobaptist.]

Pedograph
Ped´o•graph, n. [Gr. ground + -graph.] An instrument carried by a pedestrian for automatically making a topographical record of the ground covered during a journey.

Pedology
Pe•dol´o•gy, n. [Gr.,, child + -logy.] (Med.) Pediatrics.

Pedomancy
Ped´o•man•cy, n. [ Pedi- + -mancy.] Divination by examining the soles of the feet.

Pedometer
Pe•dom´e•ter, n. [ Pedi-, pedo- + -meter: cf. F. pedomètre.] (Mech.) An instrument for including the number of steps in walking, and so ascertaining the distance passed over. It is usually in the form of a watch; an oscillating weight by the motion of the body causes the index to advance a certain distance at each step. { Ped•o•met´ric, Ped•o•met´ric•al } a. Pertaining to, or measured by, a pedometer.

Pedomotive
Ped•o•mo´tive, a. [ Pedi-, pedo- + -motive.] Moved or worked by the action of the foot or feet on a pedal or treadle.

Pedotrophy
Pe•dot´ro•phy, n. [Gr., fr.,, a child + to nourish: cf. F. pedotrophie.] The art of nourishing children properly.

Pedrail
Ped´rail, n. [See Pedi-; Rail.] (Mach.) (a) A device intended to replace the wheel of a self-propelled vehicle for use on rough roads and to approximate to the smoothness in running of a wheel on a metal track. The tread consists of a number of rubber shod feet which are connected by ball-and-socket joints to the ends of sliding spokes. Each spoke has attached to it a small roller which in its turn runs under a short pivoted rail controlled by a powerful set of springs. This arrangement permits the feet to accomodate themselves to obstacles even such as steps or stairs. The pedrail was invented by one B. J. Diplock of London, Eng. (b) A vehicle, as a traction engine, having such pedrails.

Pedro
Pe´dro, n. [From Sp. Pedro Peter, L. Petrus, Gr. .] (Card Playing) (a) The five of trumps in certain varieties of auction pitch. (b) A variety of auction pitch in which the five of trumps counts five.

Peduncle
Pe•dun´cle, n. [Formed fr. (assumed) L. pedunculus, dim. of pes, pedis, a foot: cf. F. pedoncule.]
1. (Bot.) The stem or stalk that supports the flower or fruit of a plant, or a cluster of flowers or fruits. The ultimate divisions or branches of a peduncle are called pedicels. In the case of a solitary flower, the stalk would be called a peduncle if the flower is large, and a pedicel if it is small or delicate.
2. (Zoöl.) A sort of stem by which certain shells and barnacles are attached to other objects. See Illust. of Barnacle.
3. (Anat.) A band of nervous or fibrous matter connecting different parts of the brain; as the peduncles of the cerebellum; the peduncles of the pineal gland.

Peduncular
Pe•dun´cu•lar, a. [Cf. F. pedonculaire.] Of or pertaining to a peduncle; growing from a peduncle; as a peduncular tendril.

Pedunculata
Pe•dun•cu•la´ta, n. pl. [NL. See Peduncle.] (Zoöl.) A division of Cirripedia, including the stalked or goose barnacles. { Pe•dun´cu•late, Pe•dun´cu•la•ted } a. (Biol.) Having a peduncle; growing on a peduncle; as a pedunculate flower; a pedunculate eye, as in a lobster.

Peek, v. i. [OE. piken: cf. F. piquer to pierce, prick, E. pique. Cf. Peak.] To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep. [Colloq.]

Peel, n. [OE. pel. Cf. Pile a heap.] A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep. [Scot.]

Peel, n. [F. pelle, L. pala.] A spadelike implement, variously used, as for removing loaves of bread from a baker’s oven; also a T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry. also the blade of an oar.

Peel, v. t. [Confused with peel to strip, but fr. F. piller to pillage. See Pill to rob, Pillage.] To plunder; to pillage; to rob. [Obs.]
"But govern ill the nations under yoke, Peeling their provinces." Milton.

Peel, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Peeled p. pr. & vb. n. Peeling.] [F. peler to pull out the hair, to strip, to peel, fr. L. pilare to deprive of hair, fr. pilus a hair; or perh. partly fr. F. peler to peel off the skin, perh. fr. L. pellis skin (cf. Fell skin). Cf. Peruke.]
1. To strip off the skin, bark, or rind of; to strip by drawing or tearing off the skin, bark, husks, etc.; to flay; to decorticate; as to peel an orange.
"The skillful shepherd peeled me certain wands." Shak.
2. To strip or tear off; to remove by stripping, as the skin of an animal, the bark of a tree, etc.

Peel, v. i. To lose the skin, bark, or rind; to come off, as the skin, bark, or rind does; — often used with an adverb; as the bark peels easily or readily.

Peel, n. The skin or rind; as the peel of an orange.

Peele
Pee´le, n. (Zoöl.) A graceful and swift South African antelope ( Pelea capreola). The hair is woolly, and ash-gray on the back and sides. The horns are black, long, slender, straight, nearly smooth, and very sharp. Called also rheeboc, and rehboc.

Peeler
Peel´er, n. One who peels or strips.

Peeler
Peel´er, n. [See Peel to plunder.] A pillager.

Peeler
Peel´er, n. A nickname for a policeman; — so called from Sir Robert Peel. [British Slang] See Bobby.

Peenge, v. i. To complain. [Scot.]

Peep, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Peeped p. pr. & vb. n. Peeping.] [Of imitative origin; cf. OE. pipen, F. piper, pepier, L. pipire, pipare, pipiare, D. & G. piepen. Senses 2 and 3 perhaps come from a transfer of sense from the sound which chickens make upon the first breaking of the shell to the act accompanying it; or perhaps from the influence of peek, or peak. Cf. Pipe.]
1. To cry, as a chicken hatching or newly hatched; to chirp; to cheep.
"There was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." Is. x. 14.
2. To begin to appear; to look forth from concealment; to make the first appearance.
"When flowers first peeped, and trees did blossoms bear." Dryden.
3. To look cautiously or slyly; to peer, as through a crevice; to pry.
"eep through the blanket of the dark." Shak.
"From her cabined loophole peep." Milton. Peep sight, an adjustable piece, pierced with a small hole to peep through in aiming, attached to a rifle or other firearm near the breech.

Peep, n.
1. The cry of a young chicken; a chirp.
2. First outlook or appearance.
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn." Gray.
3. A sly look; a look as through a crevice, or from a place of concealment.
"To take t’ other peep at the stars." Swift.
4. (Zoöl.) (a) Any small sandpiper, as the least sandpiper ( Trigna minutilla). (b) The European meadow pipit ( Anthus pratensis). Peep show, a small show, or object exhibited, which is viewed through an orifice or a magnifying glass. — Peep-o’-day boys, the Irish insurgents of 1784; — so called from their visiting the house of the loyal Irish at day break in search of arms. [Cant]

Peep sight. An adjustable piece, pierced with a small hole to peep through in aiming, attached to a rifle or other firearm near the breech; — distinguished from an open sight.

Peeper
Peep´er, n.
1. A chicken just breaking the shell; a young bird.
2. One who peeps; a prying person; a spy.
"Who’s there? peepers, … eavesdroppers?" J. Webster.
3. The eye; as to close the peepers. [Colloq.]

Peephole
Peep´hole, n. A hole, or crevice, through which one may peep without being discovered.

Peeping hole
Peep"ing hole. See Peephole.

Peerage
Peer´age, n. [See Peer an equal, and cf. Parage.]
1. The rank or dignity of a peer. Blackstone.
2. The body of peers; the nobility, collectively.
"When Charlemain with all his peerage fell." Milton.

Peeress
Peer´ess, n. The wife of a peer; a woman ennobled in her own right, or by right of marriage. { Peer´ie, Peer´y }, a. [See 1st Peer, 2.] Inquisitive; suspicious; sharp. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] "Two peery gray eyes." Sir W. Scott.

Peert, a. Same as Peart.

Peevishness
Pee´vish•ness, n. The quality of being peevish; disposition to murmur; sourness of temper.
Syn. — See Petulance. { Pee´vit, Pee´wit } n. (Zoöl.) See Pewit.

Pegador
Pe•ga•dor´, n. [Sp., a sticker.] (Zoöl.) A species of remora ( Echeneis naucrates). See Remora.

Pegasoid
Peg´a•soid, a. [ Pegasus + -oid.] (Zoöl.) Like or pertaining to Pegasus.

Pegasus
Peg´a•sus, n. [L., fr. Gr. .]
1. (Gr. Myth.) A winged horse fabled to have sprung from the body of Medusa when she was slain. He is noted for causing, with a blow of his hoof, Hippocrene, the inspiring fountain of the Muses, to spring from Mount Helicon. On this account he is, in modern times, associated with the Muses, and with ideas of poetic inspiration.
"Each spurs his jaded Pegasus apace." Byron.
2. (Astron.) A northen constellation near the vernal equinoctial point. Its three brightest stars, with the brightest star of Andromeda, form the square of Pegasus.
3. (Zoöl.) A genus of small fishes, having large pectoral fins, and the body covered with hard, bony plates. Several species are known from the East Indies and China.

Pegger
Peg´ger, n. One who fastens with pegs.

Pegging
Peg´ging, n. The act or process of fastening with pegs.

Pegm, n. [L. pegma a movable stage, Gr., orig., a framework.] A sort of moving machine employed in the old pageants. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Pegmatite
Peg´ma•tite, n. [From Gr. something fastened together, in allusion to the quartz and feldspar in graphic granite: cf. F. pegmatite. See Pegm.] (Min.) (a) Graphic granite. See under Granite. (b) More generally, a coarse granite occurring as vein material in other rocks.

Pegmatoid
Peg´ma•toid, a. [ Pegmatite + -oid.] (Min.) Resembling pegmatite; pegmatic.

Pegomancy
Peg´o•man•cy, n. [Gr. phgh• fountain + -mancy.] Divination by fountains. [R.]

Pegroots
Peg´roots (peg"roots•), n. Same as Setterwort.

Peignoir
Pei•gnoir´, n. [F., fr. peigner to comb, L. pectinare. See Pectinate.] A woman’s loose dressing sack; hence, a loose morning gown or wrapper.

Peirastic
Pei•ras´tic, a. [Gr., fr. to try, fr. a trail.] Fitted for trail or test; experimental; tentative; treating of attempts.

Peise, n. [See Poise.] A weight; a poise. [Obs.] "To weigh pence with a peise." Piers Plowman.

Peise, v. t. To poise or weight. [Obs.] Chaucer.
"Lest leaden slumber peise me down." Shak.

Peitrel
Pei´trel, n. (Anc. Armor) See Peytrel.

Pekan
Pek´an, n. [F. pekan.] (Zoöl.) See Fisher, 2.

Pela
Pe´la, n. (Zoöl.) See Wax insect, under Wax.

Pelagian
Pe•la´gi•an, a. [L. pelagius, Gr., fr. the sea: cf. F. pelagien.] Of or pertaining to the sea; marine; pelagic; as pelagian shells.

Pelagian
Pe•la´gi•an, n. [L. Pelagianus: cf. F. pelagien.] (Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Pelagius, a British monk, born in the later part of the 4th century, who denied the doctrines of hereditary sin, of the connection between sin and death, and of conversion through grace.

Pelagian
Pe•la´gi•an, a. [Cf. F. pelagien.] Of or pertaining to Pelagius, or to his doctrines.

Pelagianism
Pe•la´gi•an•ism, n. [Cf. F. pelagianisme.] The doctrines of Pelagius.

Pelagic
Pe•lag´ic, a. [L. pelagicus.] Of or pertaining to the ocean; — applied especially to animals that live at the surface of the ocean, away from the coast.

Pelargonic
Pel•ar•gon´ic, a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, an organic acid (called also nonoic acid) found in the leaves of the geranium ( Pelargonium) and allied plants.

Pelargonium
Pel•ar•go´ni•um, n. [NL., fr. Gr. a stork.] (Bot.) A large genus of plants of the order Geraniaceae, differing from Geranium in having a spurred calyx and an irregular corolla. About one hundred and seventy species are known, nearly all of them natives of South Africa, and many having very beautiful blossoms. See the Note under Geranium. { Pe•las´gi•an, Pe•las´gic } a. [L. Pelasgus, Gr. a Pelasgian.]
1. Of or pertaining to the Pelasgians, an ancient people of Greece, of roving habits.
2. (Zoöl.) Wandering.

Pelecan
Pel´e•can, n. (Zoöl.) See Pelican.

Pelecypoda
Pel•e•cyp´o•da, n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. a hatchet + -poda.] (Zoöl.) Same as Lamellibranchia.

Pelican
Pel´i•can, n. [F. pelican, L. pelicanus, pelecanus, Gr.,,, the woodpecker, and also a water bird of the pelican kind, fr. to hew with an ax, akin to Skr. paraçu.] [Written also pelecan.]
1. (Zoöl.) Any large webfooted bird of the genus Pelecanus, of which about a dozen species are known. They have an enormous bill, to the lower edge of which is attached a pouch in which captured fishes are temporarily stored. The American white pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and the brown species ( P. fuscus) are abundant on the Florida coast in winter, but breed about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British America.
2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation. The principle is still employed in certain modern forms of distilling apparatus. Frigate pelican (Zoöl.), the frigate bird. See under Frigate. — Pelican fish (Zoöl.), deep-sea fish ( Eurypharynx pelecanoides) of the order Lyomeri, remarkable for the enormous development of the jaws, which support a large gular pouch. — Pelican flower (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped blossom of a climbing plant ( Aristolochia grandiflora) of the West Indies; also the plant itself. — Pelican ibis (Zoöl.), a large Asiatic wood ibis ( Tantalus leucocephalus). The head and throat are destitute of feathers; the plumage is white, with the quills and the tail greenish black. — Pelican in her piety (in heraldry and symbolical art), a representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; — a practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of charity. — Pelican’s foot (Zoöl.), a marine gastropod shell of the genus Aporrhais, esp. Aporrhais pes-pelicani of Europe.

Pelick
Pel´ick, n. (Zoöl.) The American coot ( Fulica).

Pelicoid
Pel´i•coid, n. See Pelecoid.

Peliom
Pe´li•om, n. [See Pelioma.] (Min.) A variety of iolite, of a smoky blue color; pelioma.

Pell, v. t. [Cf. Pelt, v. t.] To pelt; to knock about. [Obs.] Holland.

Pell, n. [OF. pel, F. peau, L. pellis a skin. See Fell a skin.]
1. A skin or hide; a pelt.
2. A roll of parchment; a parchment record. Clerk of the pells, formerly, an officer of the exchequer who entered accounts on certain parchment rolls, called pell rolls. [Eng.]

Pellagrin
Pel´la•grin, n. One who is afficted with pellagra. Chambers’s Encyc.

Pellagrous
Pel•lag´rous, a. [It. pellagroso: cf. F. pellagreux.] (Med.) Pertaining to, or affected with, or attendant on, pellagra; as pellagrous insanity.

Pellet
Pel´let, n. [F. pelote, LL. pelota, pilota, fr. L. pila a ball. Cf. Platoon.]
1. A little ball; as a pellet of wax paper.
2. A bullet; a ball for firearms. [Obs.] Bacon.
"As swift as a pellet out of a gun." Chaucer. Pellet molding (Arch.), a narrow band ornamented with smalt, flat disks.

Pellet
Pel´let, v.. To form into small balls. [Obs.] Shak.

Pelleted
Pel´let•ed, a. Made of, or like, pellets; furnished with pellets. [R.] "This pelleted storm." Shak.

Pellibranchiata
Pel•li•bran•chi•a´ta, n. pl. [NL., fr. pellis garment + branchia a gill.] (Zoöl.) A division of Nudibranchiata, in which the mantle itself serves as a gill.

Pellicle
Pel´li•cle, n. [L. pellicua, dim. of pellis skin: cf. F. pellicule.]
1. A thin skin or film.
2. (Chem.) A thin film formed on the surface of an evaporating solution.

Pellicular
Pel•lic´u•lar, a. Of or pertaining to a pellicle. Henslow.

Pellile
Pel•li´le, n. (Zoöl.) The redshank; — so called from its note. [Prov. Eng.]

Pellitory
Pel´li•to•ry, n. [OE. paritorie, OF. paritoire, F. parietaire; (cf. It. & Sp. parietaria), L. parietaria the parietary, or pellitory, the wall plant, fr. parietarus belonging to the walls, fr. paries, parietis a wall. Cf. Parietary.] (Bot.) The common name of the several species of the genus Parietaria, low, harmless weeds of the Nettle family; — also called wall pellitory, and lichwort. Parietaria officinalis is common on old walls in Europe; P. pennsylvanica is found in the United States; and six or seven more species are found near the Mediterranean, or in the Orient.

Pellitory
Pel´li•to•ry, n. [Sp. pelitre, fr. L. pyrethrum. See Bertram.] (Bot.) (a) A composite plant ( Anacyclus Pyrethrum) of the Mediterranean region, having finely divided leaves and whitish flowers. The root is the officinal pellitory, and is used as an irritant and sialogogue. Called also bertram, and pellitory of Spain. (b) The feverfew ( Chrysanthemum Parthenium); — so called because it resembles the above.

Pelma
Pel´ma, n. ; pl. Pelmata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. .] (Zoöl.) The under surface of the foot.

Pelopium
Pe•lo´pi•um, n. [NL., fr. L. Pelops, brother of Niobe, Gr. .] (Chem.) A supposed new metal found in columbite, afterwards shown to be identical with columbium, or niobium.

Peloponnesian
Pel•o•pon•ne´sian, a. [L. Peloponnesius, fr. Peloponnesus, Gr., lit., the Island of Pelops;,, Pelops + an island.] Of or pertaining to the Peloponnesus, or southern peninsula of Greece. — n. A native or an inhabitant of the Peloponnesus.

Peloria
Pe•lo´ri•a, n. [NL., from Gr. monstrous.] (Bot.) Abnormal regularity; the state of certain flowers, which, being naturally irregular, have become regular through a symmetrical repetition of the special irregularity.

Peloric
Pe•lo´ric, a. (Bot.) Abnormally regular or symmetrical. Darwin.

Pelorus
Pe•lo´rus, n. [After Pelorus, said to have been Hannibal’s pilot when he left Italy.] (Navig.) An instrument similar to a mariner’s compass, but without magnetic needles, and having two sight vanes by which bearings are taken, esp. such as cannot be taken by the compass.

Pelota
Pe•lo´ta, n. [Sp., lit., ball.] A Basque, Spanish, and Spanish-American game played in a court, in which a ball is struck with a wickerwork racket.

Pelotage
Pel´o•tage, n. [F.] Packs or bales of Spanish wool.

Pelt, n. [Cf. G. pelz a pelt, fur, fr. OF. pelice, F. pelisse (see Pelisse); or perh. shortened fr. peltry.]
1. The skin of a beast with the hair on; a raw or undressed hide; a skin preserved with the hairy or woolly covering on it. See 4th Fell. Sir T. Browne.
"Raw pelts clapped about them for their clothes." Fuller.
2. The human skin. [Jocose] Dryden.
3. (Falconry) The body of any quarry killed by the hawk. Pelt rot, a disease affecting the hair or wool of a beast.

Pelt, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pelted; p. pr. & vb. n. Pelting.] [OE. pelten, pulten, pilten, to thrust, throw, strike; cf. L. pultare, equiv. to pulsare (v. freq. fr. pellere to drive), and E. pulse a beating.]
1. To strike with something thrown or driven; to assail with pellets or missiles, as to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.
"The children billows seem to pelt the clouds." Shak.
2. To throw; to use as a missile.
"My Phillis me with pelted apples plies." Dryden.

Pelt, v. i.
1. To throw missiles. Shak.
2. To throw out words. [Obs.]
"Another smothered seems to peltand swear." Shak.

Pelt, n. A blow or stroke from something thrown.

Pelta
Pel´ta, n. ; pl. Peltae. [L., a shield, fr. Gr. .]
1. (Antiq.) A small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptic form, or crescent-shaped.
2. (Bot.) A flat apothecium having no rim. { Pel´tate, Pel´ta•ted } a. [Cf. F. pelte. See Pelta.] Shield-shaped; scutiform; (Bot.) having the stem or support attached to the lower surface, instead of at the base or margin; — said of a leaf or other organ. — Pel´tate•ly (#), adv.

Peltier effect
Pel•tier" ef•fect" [After Jean C. A. Peltier, French physicist, the discoverer.] (Elec.) The production or absorption of heat at the junction of two metals on the passage of a current. Heat generated by the passage of the current in one direction will be absorbed if the current is reversed.

Peltier’s cross
Pel•tier’s" cross (Elec.) A cross formed of two strips of different metals, to illustrate the Peltier effect.

Peltiform
Pel´ti•form, a. [ Pelta + - form.] Shieldlike, with the outline nearly circular; peltate. Henslow.

Pelting
Pel´ting, a. Mean; paltry. [Obs.] Shak.

Pelton wheel
Pel"ton wheel (Mech.) A form of impulse turbine or water wheel, consisting of a row of double cup-shaped buckets arranged round the rim of a wheel and actuated by one or more jets of water playing into the cups at high velocity.

Peltry
Pelt´ry, n. [F. pelleterie peltry, furriery, fr. pelletier a furrier, fr. OF. pel skin, F. peau, L. pelis. See Pelt a skin, Pell, n. , Fell a skin.] Pelts or skins, collectively; skins with the fur on them; furs.

Peludo
Pe•lu´do, n. [Sp. peludo hairy.] (Zoöl.) The South American hairy armadillo ( Dasypus villosus).

Pelure
Pe•lure´, n. [F., lit., peel, fr. peler to peel.] A crisp, hard, thin paper, sometimes used for postage stamps.

Pelusiac
Pe•lu´si•ac, a. [L. Pelusiacus.] Of or pertaining to Pelusium, an ancient city of Egypt; as the Pelusiac (or former eastern) outlet of the Nile.

Pelvic
Pel´vic, a. Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the pelvis; as pelvic cellulitis. Pelvic arch, or Pelvic girdle (Anat.), the two or more bony or cartilaginous pieces of the vertebrate skeleton to which the hind limbs are articulated. When fully ossified, the arch usually consists of three principal bones on each side, the ilium, ischium, and pubis, which are often closely united in the adult, forming the innominate bone. See Innominate bone, under Innominate.

Pelvimetry
Pel•vim´e•try, n. [ Pelvis + -metry.] (Med.) The measurement of the pelvis.

Pelvis
Pel´vis, n. [L., a basin, laver; cf. Gr.,, bowl.]
1. (Anat.) The pelvic arch, or the pelvic arch together with the sacrum. See Pelvic arch, under Pelvic, and Sacrum.
2. (Zoöl.) The calyx of a crinoid. Pelvis of the kidney (Anat.), the basinlike cavity into which the ureter expands as it joins the kidney.

Pemmican
Pem´mi•can, n. [Written also pemican.]
1. Among the North American Indians, meat cut in thin slices, divested of fat, and dried in the sun.
"Then on pemican they feasted." Longfellow.
2. Meat, without the fat, cut in thin slices, dried in the sun, pounded, then mixed with melted fat and sometimes dried fruit, and compressed into cakes or in bags. It contains much nutriment in small compass, and is of great use in long voyages of exploration.

Pemmican
Pem´mi•can, n. A treatise of much thought in little compass.

Pemphigus
Pem•phi´gus, n. [Nl., fr. Gr.,, a bubble.] (Med.) A somewhat rare skin disease, characterized by the development of blebs upon different part of the body. Quain.

Pen, n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.]
1. A feather. [Obs.] Spenser.
2. A wing. [Obs.] Milton.
3. An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. also originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving.
"Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock." Job xix. 24.
4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as he has a sharp pen. "Those learned pens." Fuller.
5. (Zoöl.) The internal shell of a squid.
6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zoöl.) A female swan. [Prov. Eng.] Bow pen. See Bow-pen. — Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. — Drawing, or Ruling, pen, a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. — Fountain pen, Geometric pen. See under Fountain, and Geometric. — Music pen, a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff. — Pen and ink, or pen- and-ink, executed or done with a pen and ink; as a pen and ink sketch. — Pen feather. A pin feather. [Obs.] — Pen name. See under Name. — Sea pen (Zoöl.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea- pen.]

Pen, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Penned p. pr. & vb. n. Penning ] To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as to pen a sonnet. "A prayer elaborately penned." Milton.

Pen, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Penned or Pent ; p. pr. & vb. n. Penning.] [OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on-pennan to unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig. meaning, to fasten with a peg.See Pin, n. & v.] To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose. "Away with her, and pen her up." Shak.
"Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve." Milton.

Pen, n. [From Pen to shut in.] A small inclosure; as a pen for sheep or for pigs.
"My father stole two geese out of a pen." Shak.

Penalty
Pe´nal•ty, n. ; pl. Penalties (#). [F. penalite. See Penal.]
1. Penal retribution; punishment for crime or offense; the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense, or trespass.
"Death is the penalty imposed." Milton.
2. The suffering, or the sum to be forfeited, to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of nonfulfillment of stipulations; forfeiture; fine.
"The penalty and forfeit of my bond." Shak.
3. A handicap. [Sporting Cant] The term penalty is in law mostly applied to a pecuniary punishment. Bill of pains and penalties. See under Bill. — On, or Under, penalty of, on pain of; with exposure to the penalty of, in case of transgression.

Penang lawyer
Pe•nang" law"yer [Prob. fr. Malay pinang liar.] A kind of walking stick made from the stem of an East Asiatic palm ( Licuala acutifida).

Penang nut
Pe•nang" nut [From the native name.] (Bot.) The betel nut. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

Penannular
Pen•an´nu•lar, a. [L. pene, paene, almost + E. annular.] Nearly annular; having nearly the form of a ring. "Penannular relics." D. Wilson.

Penary
Pe´na•ry, a. Penal. [Obs.] Gauden.

Penates
Pe•na´tes, n. pl. [L.] (Rom. Antiq.) The household gods of the ancient Romans. They presided over the home and the family hearth. See Lar.

Penchute
Pen´chute, n. See Penstock.

Penciling
Pen´cil•ing, n. [Written also pencilling.]
1. The work of the pencil or bruch; as delicate penciling in a picture.
2. (Brickwork) Lines of white or black paint drawn along a mortar joint in a brick wall. Knight. { Pen´cil•late, Pen´cil•la•ted } a. Shaped like a pencil; penicillate.

Pencraft
Pen´craft, n.
1. Penmanship; skill in writing; chirography.
2. The art of composing or writing; authorship.
"I would not give a groat for that person’s knowledge in pencraft." Sterne.

Pend, n. Oil cake; penock. [India]

Pend, v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Pended; p. pr. & vb. n. Pending.] [L. pendere.]
1. To hang; to depend. [R.]
"Pending upon certain powerful motions." I. Taylor.
2. To be undecided, or in process of adjustment.

Pend, v. t. [Cf. pen to shut in, or AS. pyndan, E. pound an inclosure.] To pen; to confine. [R.]
"ended within the limits … of Greece." Udall.

Pendant
Pend´ant, n. [F., orig. p. pr. of pendre to hang, L. pendere. Cf. Pendent, Pansy, Pensive, Poise, Ponder.]
1. Something which hangs or depends; something suspended; a hanging appendage, especially one of an ornamental character; as to a chandelier or an eardrop; also an appendix or addition, as to a book.
"Some hang upon the pendants of her ear." Pope.
"Many … have been pleased with this work and its pendant, the Tales and Popular Fictions." Keightley.
2. (Arch.) A hanging ornament on roofs, ceilings, etc., much used in the later styles of Gothic architecture, where it is of stone, and an important part of the construction. There are imitations in plaster and wood, which are mere decorative features. "[A bridge] with … pendants graven fair." Spenser.
3. (Fine Arts) One of a pair; a counterpart; as one vase is the pendant to the other vase.
4. A pendulum. [Obs.] Sir K. Digby.
5. The stem and ring of a watch, by which it is suspended. [U.S.] Knight. Pendant post (Arch.), a part of the framing of an open timber roof; a post set close against the wall, and resting upon a corbel or other solid support, and supporting the ends of a collar beam or any part of the roof.

Pendent
Pend´ent, a. [L. pendens, -entis, p. pr. of pendere to hang, to be suspended. Cf. Pendant.]
1. Supported from above; suspended; depending; pendulous; hanging; as a pendent leaf. "The pendent world." Shak.
"Often their tresses, when shaken, with pendent icicles tinkle." Longfellow.
2. Jutting over; projecting; overhanging. "A vapor sometime like a … pendent rock." Shak.

Pendently
Pend´ent•ly, adv. In a pendent manner.

Pendice
Pen´dice, n. [Cf. Pentice.] A sloping roof; a lean-to; a penthouse. [Obs.] Fairfax.

Pending
Pend´ing, a. [L. pendere to hang, to be suspended. Cf. Pendent.] Not yet decided; in continuance; in suspense; as a pending suit.

Pending
Pend´ing, prep. During; as pending the trail.

Pendragon
Pen´drag•on, n. A chief leader or a king; a head; a dictator; — a title assumed by the ancient British chiefs when called to lead other chiefs.
"The dread Pendragon, Britain’s king of kings." Tennyson.

Pendular
Pen´du•lar, a. Pendulous.

Pendulate
Pen´du•late, v. i. To swing as a pendulum. [R.]

Pendule
Pen´dule, n. [F.] A pendulum. [R.] Evelyn.

Penduline
Pen´du•line, n. [F. See Pendulum.] (Zoöl.) A European titmouse ( Parus, or AEgithalus, pendulinus). It is noted for its elegant pendulous purselike nest, made of the down of willow trees and lined with feathers.

Pendulousness
Pen´du•lous•ness, n. The quality or state of being pendulous; the state of hanging loosely; pendulosity.

Pendulum
Pen´du•lum, n. ; pl. Pendulums (#). [NL., fr. L. pendulus hanging, swinging. See Pendulous.] A body so suspended from a fixed point as to swing freely to and fro by the alternate action of gravity and momentum. It is used to regulate the movements of clockwork and other machinery. The time of oscillation of a pendulum is independent of the arc of vibration, provided this arc be small. Ballistic pendulum. See under Ballistic. — Compensation pendulum, a clock pendulum in which the effect of changes of temperature of the length of the rod is so counteracted, usually by the opposite expansion of differene metals, that the distance of the center of oscillation from the center of suspension remains invariable; as the mercurial compensation pendulum, in which the expansion of the rod is compensated by the opposite expansion of mercury in a jar constituting the bob; the gridiron pendulum, in which compensation is effected by the opposite expansion of sets of rodsof different metals. — Compound pendulum, an ordinary pendulum; — so called, as being made up of different parts, and contrasted with simple pendulum. — Conical or Revolving, pendulum, a weight connected by a rod with a fixed point; and revolving in a horizontal cyrcle about the vertical from that point. — Pendulum bob, the weight at the lower end of a pendulum. — Pendulum level, a plumb level. See under Level. — Pendulum wheel, the balance of a watch. — Simple or Theoretical, pendulum, an imaginary pendulum having no dimensions except length, and no weight except at the center of oscillation; in other words, a material point suspended by an ideal line.

Peneplain
Pe´ne•plain, n. [L. paene, pene, almost + E. plain.] (Phys. Geog.) A land surface reduced by erosion to the general condition of a plain, but not wholly devoid of hills; a base-level plain.

Penetrability
Pen•e•tra•bil´i•ty, n. [Cf. F. penetrabilite.] The quality of being penetrable; susceptibility of being penetrated, entered, or pierced. Cheyne.

Penetrable
Pen´e•tra•ble, a. [L. penetrabilus: cf. F. penetrable.] Capable of being penetrated, entered, or pierced. Used also figuratively.
"And pierce his only penetrable part." Dryden.
"I am not made of stones, But penetrable to your kind entreats." Shak. — Pen´e•tra•ble•ness, n. — Pen´e•tra•bly, adv.

Penetrail
Pen´e•trail, n. Penetralia. [Obs.] Harvey.

Penetralia
Pen•e•tra´li•a, n. pl. [L., fr. penetralis penetrating, internal. See Penetrate.]
1. The recesses, or innermost parts, of any thing or place, especially of a temple or palace.
2. Hidden things or secrets; privacy; sanctuary; as the sacred penetralia of the home. { Pen´e•trance, Pen´e•tran•cy } n. The quality or state of being penetrant; power of entering or piercing; penetrating power of quality; as the penetrancy of subtile effluvia.

Penetrate
Pen´e•trate, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Penetrated p. pr. & vb. n. Penetrating.] [L. penetratus, p. p. of penetrare to penetrate; akin to penitus inward, inwardly, and perh. to pens with, in the power of, penus store of food, innermost part of a temple.]
1. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as light penetrates darkness.
2. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply; as to penetrate one’s heart with pity. Shak.
"The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer’s style." M. Arnold.
3. To pierce into by the mind; to arrive at the inner contents or meaning of, as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand.
"Things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate." Ray.

Penetrate
Pen´e•trate, v. i. To pass; to make way; to pierce. Also used figuratively.
"Preparing to penetrate to the north and west." J. R. Green.
"Born where Heaven’s influence scarce can penetrate." Pope.
"The sweet of life that penetrates so near." Daniel.

Penetrating
Pen´e•tra•ting, a.
1. Having the power of entering, piercing, or pervading; sharp; subtile; penetrative; as a penetrating odor.
2. Acute; discerning; sagacious; quick to discover; as a penetrating mind.

Penetratingly
Pen´e•tra•ting•ly, adv. In a penetrating manner.

Penetration
Pen´e•tra•tion, n. [L. penetratio: cf. F. penetration.]
1. The act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering; also the act of mentally penetrating into, or comprehending, anything difficult.
"And to each in ward part, With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep." Milton.
"A penetration into the difficulties of algebra." Watts.
2. Acuteness; insight; sharp discoverment; sagacity; as a person of singular penetration. Walpole.
Syn. — Discernment; sagacity; acuteness; sharpness; discrimination. See Discernment, and Sagacity.

Penetrativeness
Pen´e•tra•tive•ness, n. The quality of being penetrative.

Penfish
Pen´fish, n. (Zoöl.) A squid.

Penfold
Pen´fold, n. See Pinfold.

Penguin
Pen´guin, n. [Perh. orig. the name of another bird, and fr. W. pen head + gwyn white; or perh. from a native South American name.]
1. (Zoöl.) Any bird of the order Impennes, or Ptilopteri. They are covered with short, thick feathers, almost scalelike on the wings, which are without true quills. They are unable to fly, but use their wings to aid in diving, in which they are very expert. See King penguin, under Jackass. Penguins are found in the south temperate and antarctic regions. The king penguins ( Aptenodytes Patachonica, and A. longirostris) are the largest; the jackass penguins ( Spheniscus) and the rock hoppers ( Catarractes) congregate in large numbers at their breeding grounds.
2. (Bot.) The egg-shaped fleshy fruit of a West Indian plant ( Bromelia Pinguin) of the Pineapple family; also the plant itself, which has rigid, pointed, and spiny- toothed leaves, and is used for hedges. [Written also pinguin.] Arctic penguin (Zoöl.), the great auk. See Auk.

Penholder
Pen´hold•er, n. A handle for a pen.

Penhouse
Pen´house, n. A penthouse. [Obs.]

Penible
Pen•i´ble, a. [OF. penible. Cf. Painable.] Painstaking; assidous. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Penicillate
Pen•i•cil´late, a. [Cf. F. penicille. See Penicil.] (Biol.) Having the form of a pencil; furnished with a pencil of fine hairs; ending in a tuft of hairs like a camel’s-hair brush, as the stigmas of some grasses.

Peninsula
Pen•in´su•la, n. [L. peninsula or paeninsula; paene almost + insula an island. See Isle.] A portion of land nearly surrounded by water, and connected with a larger body by a neck, or isthmus.

Peninsular
Pen•in´su•lar, a. [Cf. F. peninsulaire.] Of or pertaining to a peninsula; as a peninsular form; peninsular people; the peninsular war.

Peninsulate
Pen•in´su•late, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Peninsulated p. pr. & vb. n. Peninsulating.] To form into a peninsula.
"South River … peninsulates Castle Hill farm." W. Bentley.

Penitence
Pen´i•tence, n. [F. penitence, L. paenitentia. See Penitent, and cf. Penance.] The quality or condition of being penitent; the disposition of a penitent; sorrow for sins or faults; repentance; contrition. "Penitence of his old guilt." Chaucer.
"Death is deferred, and penitenance has room To mitigate, if not reverse, the doom." Dryden.
Syn. — Repentance; contrition; compunction.

Penitency
Pen´i•ten•cy, n. Penitence. [Obs.]

Penitent
Pen´i•tent, a. [F. penitent, L. paenitens, -entis, poenitens, p. pr. of paenitere, poenitere, to cause to repent, to repent; prob. akin to poena punishment. See Pain.]
1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life.
"Be penitent, and for thy fault contrite." Milton.
"The pound he tamed, the penitent he cheered." Dryden.
2. Doing penance. [Obs.] Shak.

Penitent
Pen´i•tent, n.
1. One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his transgressions.
2. One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.
3. One under the direction of a confessor. Penitents is an appellation given to certain fraternities in Roman Catholic countries, distinguished by their habit, and employed in charitable acts.

Penitential
Pen•i•ten´tial, a. [Cf. F. penitentiel.] Of or pertaining to penitence, or to penance; expressing penitence; of the nature of penance; as the penitential book; penitential tears. "Penitential stripes." Cowper.
"Guilt that all the penitential fires of hereafter can not cleanse." Sir W. Scott.

Penitential
Pen•i•ten´tial, n. (R. C. Ch.) A book formerly used by priests hearing confessions, containing rules for the imposition of penances; — called also penitential book.

Penitentially
Pen•i•ten´tial•ly, adv. In a penitential manner.

Penitentiary
Pen•i•ten´tia•ry, a. [Cf. F. penitentiaire.]
1. Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance. "A penitentiary tax." Abp. Bramhall.
2. Expressive of penitence; as a penitentiary letter.
3. Used for punishment, discipline, and reformation. "Penitentiary houses." Blackstone.

Penitentiary
Pen•i•ten´tia•ry, n. ; pl. Penitentiaries (#). [Cf. F. penitencier. See Penitent.]
1. One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. [Obs.] Bacon.
2. One who does penance. [Obs.] Hammond.
3. A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed. Shpiley.
4. That part of a church to which penitents were admitted. Shipley.
5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope. (b) An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
6. A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor.

Penitently
Pen´i•tent•ly, adv. In a penitent manner.

Penk, n. A minnow. See Pink, n. , 4. [Prov. Eng.] Walton.

Penman
Pen´man, n. ; pl. Penmen .
1. One who uses the pen; a writer; esp., one skilled in the use of the pen; a calligrapher; a writing master.
2. An author; a composer. South.

Penmanship
Pen´man•ship, n. The use of the pen in writing; the art of writing; style or manner of writing; chirography; as good or bad penmanship.

Penna
Pen´na, n. ; pl. Pennae (#). [L.] (Zoöl.) A perfect, or normal, feather.

Pennaceous
Pen´na´ceous, a. (Zoöl.) Like or pertaining to a normal feather.

Pennach
Pen´nach, n. [OF. pennache. See Panache.] A bunch of feathers; a plume. [Obs.] Holland.

Pennant
Pen´nant, n. [OE. penon, penoun, pynoun, OF. penon, F. pennon, fr. L. penna feather. See Pen a feather, and cf. Pennon, Pinion.] (Naut.) (a) A small flag; a pennon. The narrow, or long, pennant (called also whip or coach whip) is a long, narrow piece of bunting, carried at the masthead of a government vessel in commission. The board pennant is an oblong, nearly square flag, carried at the masthead of a commodore’s vessel. "With flags and pennants trimmed." Drayton. (b) A rope or strap to which a purchase is hooked. { Pen´nate, Pen´na•ted } a. [L. pennatus feathered, winged, from penna feather, wing.]
1. Winged; plume- shaped.
2. (Bot.) Same as Pinnate.

Pennatulacea
Pen•nat•u•la´ce•a, n. pl. [NL. See Pennatula.] (Zoöl.) A division of alcyonoid corals, including the seapens and related kinds. They are able to move about by means of the hollow muscular peduncle, which also serves to support them upright in the mud. See Pennatula, and Illust. under Alcyonaria.

Penner
Pen´ner, n.
1. One who pens; a writer. Sir T. North.
2. A case for holding pens. [Obs.]

Penniform
Pen´ni•form, a. [L. penna feather + -form: cf. F. penniforme.] Having the form of a feather or plume.

Pennigerous
Pen•nig´er•ous, a. [L. penniger; penna feather + gerere to bear.] (Zoöl.) Bearing feathers or quills.

Penniless
Pen´ni•less, a. [From Penny.] Destitute of money; impecunious; poor. — Pen´ni•less•ness, n.

Pennipotent
Pen•nip´o•tent, a. [L. pennipotens; penna wing + potens strong.] Strong of wing; strong on the wing. [Poetic] Davies (Holy Roode).

Pennon
Pen´non, n. [Cf. Pinion.] A wing; a pinion. Milton.

Pennon
Pen´non, n. [See Pennant.] A pennant; a flag or streamer. Longfellow. { Pen´non•cel•, Pen´non•celle• }, n. [OF. penoncel. See Pennant.] See Pencel.

Penny-a-liner
Pen´ny-a-lin´er, n. One who furnishes matter to public journals at so much a line; a poor writer for hire; a hack writer. Thackeray.

Pennyroyal
Pen•ny•roy´al, n. [A corruption of OE. puliall royal. OE. puliall is ultimately derived fr. L. puleium, or pulegium regium (so called as being good against fleas), fr. pulex a flea; and royal is a translation of L. regium, in puleium regium.] (Bot.) An aromatic herb ( Mentha Pulegium) of Europe; also a North American plant ( Hedeoma pulegioides) resembling it in flavor. Bastard pennyroyal (Bot.) See Blue curls, under Blue.

Pennywort
Pen´ny•wort, n. (Bot.) A European trailing herb ( Linaria Cymbalaria) with roundish, reniform leaves. It is often cultivated in hanging baskets. March, or Water, pennywort. (Bot.) See under March.

Penock
Pen´ock, n. See Pend.

Penologist
Pe•nol´o•gist, n. One versed in, or a student of, penology.

Penology
Pe•nol´o•gy, n. [Gr., or L. poena, punishment + -logy.] The science or art of punishment. [Written also pœnology.]

Penrack
Pen´rack, n. A rack for pens not in use.

Pens, n. , pl. of Penny. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Pensel
Pen´sel, n. A pencel. Chaucer.

Pensible
Pen´si•ble, a. Held aloft. [Obs.] Bacon.

Pensile
Pen´sile, a. [L. pensilis, fr. pendere to hang: cf. OE. pensil. See Pendant.] Hanging; suspended; pendent; pendulous. Bacon.
"The long, pensile branches of the birches." W. Howitt.

Pension
Pen´sion, n. [F., fr. L. pensio a paying, payment, fr. pendere, pensum, to weight, to pay; akin to pendre to hang. See Pendant, and cf. Spend.]
1. A payment; a tribute; something paid or given. [Obs.]
"The stomach’s pension, and the time’s expense." Sylvester.
2. A stated allowance to a person in consideration of past services; payment made to one retired from service, on account of age, disability, or other cause; especially, a regular stipend paid by a government to retired public officers, disabled soldiers, the families of soldiers killed in service, or to meritorious authors, or the like.
"To all that kept the city pensions and wages." 1 Esd. iv. 56.
3. A certain sum of money paid to a clergyman in lieu of tithes. [Eng.] Mozley & W.
4. [F., pronounced .] A boarding house or boarding school in France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.

Pension
Pen´sion, v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pensioned p. pr. & vb. n. Pensioning.] To grant a pension to; to pay a regular stipend to; in consideration of service already performed; — sometimes followed by off; as to pension off a servant.
"One knighted Blackmore, and one pensioned Quarles." Pope.

Pensively
Pen´sive•ly, adv. In a pensive manner.

Pensiveness
Pen´sive•ness, n. The state of being pensive; serious thoughtfulness; seriousness. Hooker.

Penstock
Pen´stock, n. [Etymol. uncertain; perh. fr. pen an inclosure + stock.]
1. A close conduit or pipe for conducting water, as to a water wheel, or for emptying a pond, or for domestic uses.
2. The barrel of a wooden pump.

Pent, p. p. or a. [From Pen, v. t.] Penned or shut up; confined; — often with up.
"Here in the body pent." J. Montgomery.
"No pent-up Utica contracts your powers." J. M. Sewall.

Pentacapsular
Pen•ta•cap´su•lar, a. [ Penta- + capsular.] (Bot.) Having five capsules.

Pentachenium
Pen•ta•che´ni•um, n. [NL. See Penta-, and Achenium.] (Bot.) A dry fruit composed of five carpels, which are covered by an epigynous calyx and separate at maturity.

Pentachord
Pen´ta•chord, n. [L. pentachordus five-stringed, Gr. ; five + string.]
1. An ancient instrument of music with five strings.
2. An order or system of five sounds. Busby.

Pentacid
Pen•tac´id, a. [ Penta- + acid.] (Chem.) Capable of neutralizing, or combining with, five molecules of a monobasic acid; having five hydrogen atoms capable of substitution by acid residues; — said of certain complex bases.

Pentacle
Pen´ta•cle, n. [Gr. five.] A figure composed of two equilateral triangles intersecting so as to form a six-pointed star, — used in early ornamental art, and also with superstitious import by the astrologers and mystics of the Middle Ages.

Pentacoccous
Pen•ta•coc´cous, a. [See Penta-, Coccus.] (Bot.) Composed of five united carpels with one seed in each, as certain fruits.

Pentacrinite
Pen•tac´ri•nite, n. [ Penta- + Gr. a lily.] (Zoöl.) Any species of Pentacrinus.

Pentacrinoid
Pen•tac´ri•noid, n. [ Pentacrinus + -oid.] (Zoöl.) An immature comatula when it is still attached by a stem, and thus resembles a Pentacrinus.

Pentacrinus
Pen•tac´ri•nus, n. [NL. See Penta-, and Crinum.] (Zoöl.) A genus of large, stalked crinoids, of which several species occur in deep water among the West Indies and elsewhere.

Pentacrostic
Pen•ta•cros´tic, n. [ Penta- + acrostic.] A set of verses so disposed that the name forming the subject of the acrostic occurs five times — the whole set of verses being divided into five different parts from top to bottom.

Pentad
Pen´tad, n. [Gr.,, a body of five, fr. five.] (Chem.) Any element, atom, or radical, having a valence of five, or which can be combined with, substituted for, or compared with, five atoms of hydrogen or other monad; as nitrogen is a pentad in the ammonium compounds.

Pentad
Pen´tad, a. (Chem.) Having the valence of a pentad. { Pen•ta•dac´tyl, Pen•ta•dac´tyle }, a. [Gr. with five fingers or toes. See Penta-, and Dactyl.]
1. (Anat.) Having five digits to the hand or foot.
2. Having five appendages resembling fingers or toes.

Pentadecane
Pen•ta•dec´ane, n. [ Penta- + Gr. ten.] (Chem.) A hydrocarbon of the paraffin series, (C₁₅H₃₂) found in petroleum, tar oil, etc., and obtained as a colorless liquid; — so called from the fifteen carbon atoms in the molecule.

Pentadecatoic
Pen•ta•dec•a•to´ic, a. [ Penta- + decatoic.] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, pentadecane, or designating an acid related to it.

Pentadecylic
Pen•ta•decyl´ic, a. [ Penta- + decylic.] (Chem.) Same as Quindecylic.

Pentafid
Pen´ta•fid, a. [ Penta- + root of L. findere to split.] (Bot.) Divided or cleft into five parts.

Pentaglot
Pen´ta•glot, n. [ Penta- + -glot, as in polyglot.] A work in five different tongues.

Pentagon
Pen´ta•gon, n. [Gr. ; (see Penta-) + gwni•a angle: cf. L. pentagonium, F. pentagone.] (Geom.) A plane figure having five angles, and, consequently, five sides; any figure having five angles. Regular pentagon, a pentagon in which the angles are all equal, and the sides all equal.

Pentagonous
Pen•tag´o•nous, a. Pentagonal.

Pentagram
Pen´ta•gram, n. [Gr., neut. of having five lines. See Penta-, and -gram.] A pentacle or a pentalpha. "Like a wizard pentagram." Tennyson. { Pen•ta•graph´ic, Pen•ta•graph´ic•al } a. [Corrupted fr. pantographic, - ical.] Pantographic. See Pantograph.

Pentahedrical
Pen•ta•hed´ric•al, a. Pentahedral. [R.]

Pentahedron
Pen•ta•he´dron, n. [ Penta- + Gr. "e•dra seat, base.] A solid figure having five sides.

Pentahedrous
Pen•ta•he´drous, a. Pentahedral. Woodward.

Pentail
Pen´tail, n. (Zoöl.) A peculiar insectivore ( Ptilocercus Lowii) of Borneo; — so called from its very long, quill-shaped tail, which is scaly at the base and plumose at the tip.

Pentalpha
Pen•tal´pha, n. [NL., fr. Gr. : cf. F. pentalpha. See Penta-, and Alpha.] A five-pointed star, resembling five alphas joined at their bases; — used as a symbol.

Pentamerous
Pen•tam´er•ous, a. [ Penta- + Gr. part.]
1. (Biol.) Divided into, or consisting of, five parts; also arranged in sets, with five parts in each set, as a flower with five sepals, five petals, five, or twice five, stamens, and five pistils.
2. (Zoöl.) Belonging to the Pentamera.

Pentamerus
Pen•tam´e•rus, n. [NL. See Pentamerous.] (Paleon.) A genus of extinct Paleozoic brachiopods, often very abundant in the Upper Silurian. Pentamerus limestone (Geol.), a Silurian limestone composed largely of the shells of Pentamerus.

Pentamethylene
Pen•ta•meth´yl•ene, n. [ Penta- + methylene.] (Chem.) A hypothetical hydrocarbon, C₅H₁₀, metameric with the amylenes, and the nucleus of a large number of derivatives; — so named because regarded as composed of five methylene residues. Cf. Trimethylene, and Tetramethylene.

Pentangular
Pen•tan´gu•lar, a. [ Penta- + angular.] Having five corners or angles. [R.]

Pentapetalous
Pen•ta•pet´al•ous, a. [ Penta- + petal.] (Bot.) Having five petals, or flower leaves.

Pentaphyllous
Pen•taph´yl•lous, a. [ Penta- + Gr. leaf.] (Bot.) Having five leaves or leaflets.

Pentapody
Pen•tap´o•dy, n. [ Penta- + Gr.,, foot.] (Pros.) A measure or series consisting of five feet.

Pentaptote
Pen´tap•tote, n. [L. ( pl.) pentaptota. Gr. with five cases; (see Penta-) + falling.] (Gram.) A noun having five cases.

Pentarchy
Pen´tar•chy, n. [Gr. : cf. F. pentarchie. See Penta-, and -archy.] A government in the hands of five persons; five joint rulers. P. Fletcher. "The pentarchy of the senses." A. Brewer.

Pentastich
Pen´ta•stich, n. [Gr. of five verses; (see Penta-) + line, verse.] A composition consisting of five verses.

Pentastomida
Pen•ta•stom´i•da, n. pl. [NL., fr. (see Penta-) + a mouth.] (Zoöl.) Same as Linguatulina.

Pentateuch
Pen´ta•teuch, n. [L. pentateuchus, Gr. ; (see Penta-) + a tool, implement, a book, akin to to prepare, make ready, and perh. to E. text. See Five, and Text.] The first five books of the Old Testament, collectively; — called also the Law of Moses, Book of the Law of Moses, etc.

Pentathionic
Pen•ta•thi•on´ic, a. [ Penta- + thionic.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid of sulphur obtained by leading hydrogen sulphide into a solution of sulphur dioxide; — so called because it contains five atoms of sulphur.

Pentathlon
Pen•tath´lon, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ; five + a contest.] (Gr. Antiq.) A fivefold athletic performance peculiar to the great national games of the Greeks, including leaping, foot racing, wrestling, throwing the discus, and throwing the spear.

Pentathlon
Pen•tath´lon, n. In the modern Olympic Games, a composite contest made up of a running broad jump, throwing the javelin, a 200-meter run, throwing the discus, and a 1500-meter run. { Pen´to•san, n. Also -sane }. [From Pentose.] (Chem.) One of a class of substances (complex carbohydrates widely distributed in plants, as in fruits, gums, woods, hay, etc.) which yield pentoses on hydrolysis.

Pentavalent
Pen•tav´a•lent, a. [ Penta- + L. valens, p. pr. See Valence.] (Chem.) Having a valence of five; — said of certain atoms and radicals.