POACHARD

POACHED, participle passive Slightly boiled or softened; trodden with deep footsteps; stolen.

POACHED, pp. Slightly boiled or softened; trodden with deep footsteps; stolen.

POACHER, noun One that steals game.

POACHINESS, noun Wetness and softness; the state of being easily penetrable by the feet of beasts; applied to land.

POACHY, adjective Wet and soft; such as the feet of cattle will penetrate to some depth; applied to land or ground of any kind.

POCHARD, noun [from poach.] A fresh water duck of an excellent taste, weighing a pound and twelve ounces. It is the red headed duck of Lawson; found in America and in the north of Europe.

POCK, noun [Eng. big.] A pustule raised on the surface of the body in the variolous and vaccine diseases, named from the pustules, small pox, or as it ought to be written, small pocks.

POCK'ET, noun

1. A small bag inserted in a garment for carrying small articles.

2. A small bag or net to receive the balls in billiards.

3. A certain quantity; as a pocket of hops, as in other cases we use sack. [Not used in America.]

POCK'ET, verb transitive To put or conceal in the pocket; as, to pocket a penknife.

1. To take clandestinely.

To pocket an insult or affront, to receive it without resenting it, or at least without seeking redress. [In popular use.]

POCK'INESS, noun The state of being pocky.

POCK'WOOD, noun Lignum vitae, a very hard wood.

POCK'Y, adjective [from pock.] Infected with the small pocks; full of pocks.

1. Vile; rascally; mischievous; contemptible. [In vulgar use.]

POC'ULENT, adjective [Latin poculentus, from poculum, a cup.]

Fit for drink. [Not used.]

POD, noun The pericarp, capsule or seed vessel of certain plants. The silique or pod is an oblong, membranaceous, two valved pericarp, having the seeds fixed along both sutures. A legume is a pericarp of two valves, in which the seeds are fixed along one suture only.

According to these descriptions, the seed vessels of peas and beans are legumes, and not pods; but in popular language, pod is used for the legume as well as for the silique or siliqua. In New England, it is the only word in popular use.

POD, verb intransitive To swell; to fill; also, to produce pods.

PODAG'RIC

PODAG'RICAL, adjective [Latin podagra; Gr. the foot, and a seizure.]

1. Pertaining to the gout; gouty; partaking of the gout.

2. Afflicted with the gout.

PODAG'RICAL, a. [L. podagra; Gr. the foot, and a seizure.]

POD'DED, adjective Having its pods formed; furnished with pods.

POD'DER, noun A gatherer of pods.

PODGE, noun A puddle; a plash.

PO'EM, noun [Latin poema; Gr. to make, to compose songs.]

1. A metrical composition; a composition in which the verses consist of certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme; as the poems of Homer or of Milton; opposed to prose.

2. This term is also applied to some compositions in which the language is that of excited imagination; as the poems of Ossian.

PO'ESY, noun [Latin poesis; Gr. to make.]

1. The art or skill of composing poems; as, the heavenly gift of poesy

2. Poetry; metrical composition.

Music and poesy used to quicken you.

3. A short conceit engraved on a ring or other thing.

PO'ET, noun [Latin poeta. See Poem.]

1. The author of a poem; the inventor or maker of a metrical composition.

A poet is a maker, as the word signifies; and he who cannot make, that is, invent, hath his name for nothing.

2. One skilled in making poetry, or who has a particular genius for metrical composition; one distinguished for poetic talents. Many write verses who cannot be called poets.

PO'ETASTER, noun A petty poet; a pitiful or rhymer or writer of verses.

PO'ETESS, noun A female poet.

POET'IC

POET'ICAL, adjective [Latin poeticus.]

1. Pertaining to poetry; suitable to poetry; as a poetical genius; poetic turn or talent; poetic license.

2. Expressed in poetry or measure; as a poetical composition.

3. Possessing the peculiar beauties of poetry; sublime; as a composition or passage highly poetical.

POET'ICAL, a. [L. poeticus.]

POET'ICALLY, adverb With the qualities of poetry; by the art of poetry; by fiction.

POET'ICS, noun The doctrine of poetry.

PO'ETIZE, verb intransitive To write as a poet; to compose verse.

PO'ETRESS, noun A female poet.

PO'ETRY, noun [Gr.] Metrical composition; verse; as heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry

1. The art or practice of composing in verse. He excels in poetry

2. Poems; poetical composition. We take pleasure in reading poetry

3. This term is also applied to the language of excited imagination and feeling.

POIGNANCY, noun poin'ancy. [See Poignant.]

1. Sharpness; the power of stimulating the organs of taste.

2. Point; sharpness; keenness; the power of irritation; asperity; as the poignancy of wit or sarcasm.

3. Severity; acuteness.

POIGNANT, adjective poin'ant. [Latin pungere, pungo, to prick.]

1. Sharp; stimulating the organs of taste; as poignant sauce.

2. Pointed; keen; bitter; irritating; satirical; as poignant wit.

3. Severe; piercing; very painful or acute; as poignant pain or grief.

POIGNANTLY, adverb poin'antly. In a stimulating, piercing or irritating manner; with keenness or point.

POINT, noun [Latin punctum, from pungo, to prick, properly to thrust, preterit tense pepugi, showing that n is not radical.]

1. The sharp end of any instrument or body; as the point of a knife, of a sword or of a thorn.

2. A string with a tag; as a silken point

3. A small cape, headland or promontory; a tract of land extending into the sea, a lake or river, beyond the line of the shore, and becoming narrow at the end; as point Judith; Montauk point It is smaller than a cape.

4. The sting of an epigram; a lively turn of thought or expression that strikes with force and agreeable surprise.

With periods, points and tropes he slurs his crimes.

5. An indivisible part of time or space. We say, a point of time, a point of space.

6. A small space; as a small point of land.

7. Punctilio; nicety; exactness of ceremony; as points of precedence.

8. Place near, next or contiguous to; verge; eve. He is on the point of departure, or at the point of death.

9. Exact place. He left off at the point where he began.

10. Degree; state of elevation, depression or extension; as, he has reached an extraordinary point of excellence. He has fallen to the lowest point of degradation.

11. A character used to mark the divisions of writing, or the pauses to be observed in reading or speaking; as the comma, semi-colon, colon and period. The period is called a full stop, as it marks the close of a sentence.

12. A spot; a part of a surface divided by spots or lines; as the ace or sise point

13. In geometry, that which has neither parts nor magnitude.

A point is that which has position but not magnitude.

A point is a limit terminating a line.

14. In music, mark or note anciently used to distinguish tones or sounds. Hence, simple counterpoint is when a note of the lower part answers exactly to that of the upper, and figurative counterpoint, is when a note is syncopated and one of the parts makes several notes or inflections of the voice while the other holds on one.

15. In modern music, a dot placed by a note to raise its value or prolong its time by one half, so as to make a semibreve equal to three minims; a minim equal to three quavers, etc.

16. In astronomy, a division of the great circles of the horizon, and of the mariner's compass. The four cardinal points, are the east, west, north and south. On the space between two of these points, making a quadrant or quarter of a circle, the compass is marked with subordinate divisions, the whole number being thirty two points.

17. In astronomy, a certain place marked in the heavens, or distinguished for its importance in astronomical calculations. The zenith and nadir are called vertical points; the nodes are the points where the orbits of the planets intersect the plane of the ecliptic; the place where the equator and ecliptic intersect are called equinoctial points; the points of the ecliptic at which the departure of the sun from the equator, north and south, is terminated, are called solstitial points.

18. In perspective, a certain pole or place with regard to the perspective plane.

19. In manufactories, a lace or work wrought by the needle; as point le Venice, point de Genoa, etc. Sometimes the word is used for lace woven with bobbins. point devise is used for needle work, or for nice work.

20. The place to which any thing is directed, or the direction in which an object is presented to the eye. We say, in this point of view, an object appears to advantage. In this or that point of view, the evidence is important.

21. Particular; single thing or subject. In what point do we differ? All points of controversy between the parties are adjusted. We say, in point of antiquity, in point of fact, in point of excellence. The letter in every point is admirable. The treaty is executed in every point

22. Aim; purpose; thing to be reached or accomplished; as, to gain one's point

23. The act of aiming or striking.

What a point your falcon made.

24. A single position; a single assertion; a single part of a complicated question or of a whole.

These arguments are not sufficient to prove the point

Strange point and new!

Doctrine which we would know whence learned.

25. A note or tune.

Turning your tongue divine

To a loud trumpet, and a point of war.

26. In heraldry, points are the several different parts of the escutcheon, denoting the local positions of figures.

27. In electricity, the acute termination of a body which facilitates the passage of the fluid to or from the body.

28. In gunnery, point-blank denotes the shot of a gun leveled horizontally. The point-blank range is the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged. In shooting point-blank, the ball is supposed to move directly to the object, without a curve. Hence adverbially, the word is equivalent to directly.

29. In marine language, points are flat pieces of braided cordage, tapering from the middle towards each end; used in reefing the courses and top-sails of square-rigged vessels.

POINT de vise, [Fr.] exactly in the point of view.

Vowel-points, in the Hebrew and other eastern languages, are certain marks placed above or below the consonants, or attached to them, as in the Ethiopic, representing the vocal sounds or vowels, which precede or follow the articulations.

The point the subject; the main question; the precise thing to be considered, determined or accomplished. This argument may be true, but it is not to the point

POINT, verb transitive To sharpen; to cut, forge, grind or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart or a pin; also, to taper, as a rope.

1. To direct towards an object or place, to show its position, or excite attention to it; as, to point the finger at an object; to point the finger of scorn at one.

2. To direct the eye or notice.

Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them, would see nothing but subjects of surprise.

3. To aim; to direct towards an object; as, to point a musket at a wolf; to point a cannon at a gate.

4. To mark with characters for the purpose of distinguishing the members of a sentence, and designating the pauses; as, to point a written composition.

5. To mark with vowel-points.

6. To appoint. [Not in use.]

7. To fill the joints with mortar, and smooth them with the point of a trowel; as, to point a wall.

To point out, to show by the finger or by other means.

To point a sail, to affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs.

POINT, verb intransitive To direct the finger for designating an object, and exciting attention to it; with at.

Now must the world point at poor Catherine.

POINT at the tatter'd coat and ragged shoe.

1. To indicate, as dogs do to sportsmen.

He treads with caution, and he points with fear.

2. To show distinctly by any means.

To point at what time the balance of power was most equally held between the lords and commons at Rome, would perhaps admit a controversy.

3. To fill the joints or crevices of a wall with mortar.

4. In the rigging of a ship, to taper the end of a rope or splice, and work over the reduced part a small close netting, with an even number of knittles twisted from the same.

To point at, to treat with scorn or contempt by pointing or directing attention to.

POINT'AL, noun In botany, the pistil of a plant; an organ or viscus adhering to the fruit for the reception of the pollen. Its appearance is that of a column or set of columns in the center of the flower.

POINT'ED, participle passive Sharpened; formed to a point; directed; aimed.

1. Aimed at a particular person or transaction.

2. adjective Sharp; having a sharp point; as a pointed rock.

3. Epigrammatical; abounding in conceits or lively turns; as pointed wit.

POINT'EDLY, adverb In a pointed manner; with lively turns of thought or expression.

He often wrote too pointedly for his subject.

1. With direct assertion; with direct reference to a subject; with explicitness; as, he declared pointedly he would accede to the proposition.

POINT'EDNESS, noun Sharpness; pickedness with asperity.

1. Epigrammatical keenness or smartness.

In this you excel Horace, that you add pointedness of thought.

POINT'EL, noun Something on a point.

These poises or pointels are, for the most part, little balls set at the top of a slender stalk, which they can move every way at pleasure.

1. A kind of pencil or style.

POINT'ER, noun Any thing that points.

1. The hand of a time-piece.

2. A dog that points out the game to sportsmen.

POINT'ING, participle present tense Directing the finger; showing; directing.

1. Marking with points; as a writing.

2. Filling the joints and crevices of a wall with mortar or cement.

POINT'ING, noun The art of making the divisions of a writing; punctuation.

1. The state of being pointed with marks or points.

POINT'LESS, adjective Having no point; blunt; obtuse; as a pointless sword.

1. Having no smartness or keenness.

POISE, noun poiz.

1. Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend or tend to the center.

2. The weight or mass of metal used in weighing with steelyards, to balance the substance weighed.

3. Balance; equilibrium; a state in which things are balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise. The mind may rest in a poise between two opinions.

The particles forming the earth, must convene from all quarters towards the middle, which would make the whole compound rest in a poise

4. A regulating power; that which balances.

Men of an unbounded imagination often want the poise of judgment.

POISE, verb transitive poiz.

1. To balance in weight; to make of equal weight; as, to poise the scales of a balance.

2. To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance.

Our nation with united interest blest,

Not now content to poise shall sway the rest.

3. To load with weight for balancing.

Where could they find another form so fit,

To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit?

4. To examine or ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh.

He cannot consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence of the clearest argumentations, where they would conclude against his desires.

5. To oppress; to weigh down.

Lest leaden slumber poise me down to-morrow,

When I should mount on wings of victory.

POIS'ED, participle passive Balanced; made equal in weight; resting in equilibrium.

POIS'ING, participle present tense Balancing.

POISON, noun poiz'n. [Latin pus.]

1. A substance which, when taken into the stomach, mixed with the blood or applied to the skin or flesh, proves fatal or deleterious by an action not mechanical; venom. The more active and virulent poisons destroy life in a short time; others are slow in their operation, others produce inflammation without proving fatal. In the application of poison much depends on the quantity.

2. Any thing infectious, malignant, or noxious to health; as the poison of pestilential diseases.

3. That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as the poison of evil example; the poison of sin.

POIS'ON, verb transitive To infect with any thing fatal to life; as, to poison an arrow.

1. To attack, injure or kill by poison

He was so discouraged that he poisoned himself and died. 2 Macc.

2. To taint; to mar; to impair; as, discontent poisons the happiness of life.

Hast thou not

With thy false arts poison'd his people's loyalty?

3. To corrupt. Our youth are poisoned with false notions of honor, or with pernicious maxims of government.

To suffer the thoughts to be vitiated, is to poison the fountains of morality.

POIS'ONED, participle passive Infected or destroyed by poison.

POIS'ONER, noun One who poisons or corrupts; that which corrupts.

POIS'ONING, participle present tense Infecting with poison; corrupting.

POIS'ONOUS, adjective Venomous; having the qualities of poison; corrupting; impairing soundness of purity.

POIS'ONOUSLY, adverb With fatal or injurious effects; venomously.

POIS'ONOUSNESS, noun The quality of being fatal or injurious to health and soundness; venomousness.

POI'TREL, noun [Latin pectorale, from pectus, the breast.]

1. Armor for the breast.

2. A graving tool.

POIZE, a common spelling of poise. [See Poise.]

POKE, noun A pocket; a small bag; as a pig in a poke

POKE

PO'KER, noun [from poke.] An iron bar used in stirring the fire when coal is used for fuel.

PO'KER, noun [Latin bos, bovis.] Any frightful object, especially in the dark; a bugbear; a word in common popular use in America.

PO'KING, participle present tense Feeling in the dark; stirring with a poker; thrusting at with the horns; putting a poke on.

PO'KING, adjective Drudging; servile.

POLA'CRE, noun A vessel with three masts, used in the Mediterranean. The masts are usually of one piece, so that they have neither tops, caps nor cross-trees, nor horses to their upper yards.

PO'LAR, adjective

1. Pertaining to the poles of the earth, north or south, or to the poles of artificial globes; situated near one of the poles; as polar regions; polar seas; polar ice or climates.

2. Proceeding from one of the regions near the poles, as polar winds.

3. Pertaining to the magnetic pole, or to the point to which the magnetic needle is directed.

POLAR'ITY, noun That quality of a body in virtue of which peculiar properties reside in certain points; usually, as in electrified or magnetized bodies, properties of attraction or repulsion, or the power of taking a certain direction. Thus we speak of the polarity of the magnet or magnetic needle, whose pole is not always that of the earth, but a point somewhat easterly or westerly; and the deviation of the needle from a north and south line is called its variation. A mineral is said to possess polarity when it attracts one pole of a magnetic needle and repels the other.

POLARIZA'TION, noun The act of giving polarity to a body.

Polarization of light, a change produced upon light by the action of certain media, by which it exhibits the appearance of having polarity, or poles possessing different properties. This property of light was first discovered by Huygens in his investigation of the cause of double refraction, as seen in the Iceland crystal. The attention of opticians was more particularly directed towards it by the discoveries of Malus, in 1810. The knowledge of this singular property of light, has afforded an explanation of several very intricate phenomena in optics.

PO'LARIZE, verb transitive To communicate polarity to.

PO'LARIZED, participle passive Having polarity communicated to.

PO'LARIZING, participle present tense Giving polarity to.

PO'LARY, adjective [See Polar.] Tending to a pole; having a direction to a pole.

POLE, n. [L. palus. See Pale.]

Bare poles. A ship is under bare poles, when her sails are all furled.

POLE, n. [L. polus; Gr. to turn.]

Poles of the ecliptic, are two points on the surface of the sphere, 23 deg. 30' distant from the poles of the world.

Magnetic poles, two points in a lodestone, corresponding to the poles of the world; the one pointing to the north, the other to the south.

POLE, n. [from Poland.] A native of Poland.

POLE, v.t. To furnish with poles for support; as, to pole beans.

PO'LECAT, noun A quadruped of the genus Mustela; the fitchew or fitchet.

POL'EMARCH, noun [Gr. war, and to rule, or chief.]

1. Anciently, a magistrate of Athens and Thebes, who had under his care all strangers and sojourners in the city, and all children of parents who had lost their lives in the service of their country.

2. A military officer in Lacedaemon.

POLEM'IC

POLEM'ICAL, adjective [Gr. war.]

1. Controversial; disputative; intended to maintain an opinion or system in opposition to others; as a polemic treatise, discourse, essay or book; polemic divinity.

2. Engaged in supporting an opinion or system by controversy; as a polemic writer.

POLEM'IC, noun A disputant; a controvertist; one who writes in support of an opinion or system in opposition to another.

POLEM'OSCOPE, noun [Gr. war, and to view.] An oblique perspective glass contrived for seeing objects that do not lie directly before the eye. It consists of a concave glass placed near a plane mirror in the end of a short round tube, and a convex glass in a hole in the side of the tube. It is called opera-glass, or diagonal opera-glass.

PO'LEY, noun [Latin polium; Gr. white.] A plant. The poley grass is of the genus Lythrum.

POLY, in compound words, is from the Greek, and signifies many; as in polygon, a figure of many angles.

POLICE, noun [Latin politia; Gr. city.]

1. The government of a city or town; the administration of the laws and regulations of a city or incorporated town or borough; as the police of London, of New York or Boston. The word is applied also to the government of all towns in New England which are made corporations by a general statute, for certain purposes.

2. The internal regulation and government of a kingdom or state.

3. The corporation or body of men governing a city.

4. In Scottish, the pleasure-ground about a gentleman's seat.

POL'ICED, adjective Regulated by laws; furnished with a regular system of laws and administration.

POL'ICY, noun [Latin politia; Gr. city.]

1. policy in its primary signification, is the same as polity, comprehending the fundamental constitution or frame of civil government in a state or kingdom. But by usage, policy is now more generally used to denote what is included under legislation and administration, and may be defined, the art or manner of governing a nation; or that system of measures which the sovereign of a country adopts and pursues, as best adapted to the interests of the nation. Thus we speak of domestic policy or the system of internal regulations in a nation; foreign policy or the measures which respect foreign nations; commercial policy or the measures which respect commerce.

2. Art, prudence, wisdom or dexterity in the management of public affairs; applied to persons governing. It has been the policy of France to preclude females from the throne. It has been the policy of Great Britain to encourage her navy, by keeping her carrying trade in her own hands. In this she manifests sound policy Formerly, England permitted wool to be exported and manufactured in the Low Countries, which was very bad policy

The policy of all laws has made some forms necessary in the wording of last wills and testaments.

All violent policy defeats itself.

3. In common usage, the art, prudence or wisdom of individuals in the management of their private or social concerns.

4. Stratagem; cunning; dexterity of management.

5. A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.

6. policy in commerce, the writing or instrument by which a contract of indemnity is effected between the insurer and the insured; or the instrument containing the terms or conditions on which a person or company undertakes to indemnify another person or company against losses of property exposed to peculiar hazards, as houses or goods exposed to fire, or ships and goods exposed to destruction on the high seas. This writing is subscribed by the insurer, who is called the underwriter. The terms policy of insurance, or assurance, are also used for the contract between the insured and the underwriter.

Policies are valued or open; valued, when the property or goods insured are valued at prime cost; open, when the goods are not valued, but if lost, their value must be proved.

Wagering policies, which insure sums of money, interest or no interest, are illegal.

All insurances, interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy itself, are null and void.

The word policy is used also for the writing which insures against other events, as well as against loss of property.

PO'LING, noun In gardening, the operation of dispersing the worm-casts all over the walks, with long ash poles. This destroys the worm-casts and is beneficial to the walks.

PO'LING, participle present tense Furnishing with poles for support.

1. Bearing on poles.

2. Pushing forward with poles, as a boat.

PO'LISH, adjective Pertaining to Poland, a level country on the south of Russia and the Baltic.

POL'ISH, verb transitive [Latin polio.]

1. To make smooth and glossy, usually by friction; as, to polish glass, marble, metals and the like.

2. To refine; to wear off rudeness, rusticity and coarseness; to make elegant and polite; as, to polish life or manners.

The Greeks were polished by the Asiatics and Egyptians.

POL'ISH, verb intransitive To become smooth; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface.

Steel will polish almost as white and bright as silver.

POL'ISH, noun A smooth, glossy surface produced by friction.

Another prism of clearer glass and better polish seemed free from veins.

1. Refinement; elegance of manners.

What are these wond'rous civilizing arts,

This Roman polish?

POL'ISHABLE, adjective Capable of being polished.

POL'ISHED, participle passive Made smooth and glossy; refined.

POL'ISHER, noun The person or instrument that polishes.

POL'ISHING, participle present tense Making smooth and glossy; refining.

POL'ISHING, noun Smoothness; glossiness; refinement.

POLI'TE, adjective [Latin politus, polished, from polio, supra.]

1. Literally, smooth, glossy, and used in this sense till within a century.

Rays of light falling on a polite surface.

[This application of the word is, I believe, entirely obsolete.]

2. Being polished or elegant in manners; refined in behavior; well bred.

He marries, bows at court and grows polite

3. Courteous; complaisant; obliging.

His manners were warm without insincerity, and polite without pomp.

POLI'TELY, adverb With elegance of manners; genteelly; courteously.

POLI'TENESS, noun Polish or elegance of manners; gentility; good breeding; ease and gracefulness of manners, united with a desire to please others and a careful attention to their wants and wishes.

1. Courteousness; complaisance; obliging attentions.

POL'ITIC, adjective [Latin politicus; Gr. a city.]

1. Wise; prudent and sagacious in devising and pursuing measures adapted to promote the public welfare; applied to persons; as a politic prince.

2. Well devised and adapted to the public prosperity; applied to things.

This land was famously enriched

With politic grave counsel.

3. Ingenious in devising and pursuing any scheme of personal or national aggrandizement, without regard to the morality of the measure; cunning; artful; sagacious in adapting means to the end, whether good or evil.

I have been politic with my friend, smooth with my enemy.

4. Well devised; adapted to its end, right or wrong.

POLIT'ICAL, adjective [supra.] Pertaining to policy, or to civil government and its administration. political measures or affairs are measures that respect the government of a nation or state. So we say, political power or authority; political wisdom; a political scheme; political opinions. A good prince is the political father of his people. The founders of a state and wise senators are also called political fathers.

1. Pertaining to a nation or state, or to nations or states, as distinguished from civil or municipal; as in the phrase, political and civil rights, the former comprehending rights that belong to a nation, or perhaps to a citizen as an individual of a nation; and the latter comprehending the local rights of a corporation or any member of it.

Speaking of the political state of Europe, we are accustomed to say of Sweden, she lost her liberty by the revolution.

2. Public; derived from office or connection with government; as political character.

3. Artful; skillful. [See Politic.]

4. Treating of politics or government; as a political writer.

Political arithmetic, the art of reasoning by figures, or of making arithmetical calculations on matters relating to a nation, its revenues, value of lands and effects, produce of lands or manufactures, population, etc.

Political economy, the administration of the revenues of a nation; or the management and regulation of its resources and productive property and labor. political economy comprehends all the measures by which the property and labor of citizens are directed in the best manner to the success of individual industry and enterprise, and to the public prosperity. political economy is now considered as a science.

POLIT'ICALLY, adverb With relation to the government of a nation or state.

1. Artfully; with address.

POLIT'ICASTER, noun A petty politician; a pretender to politics.

POLITI'CIAN, adjective Cunning; using artifice.

POLITI'CIAN, noun One versed in the science of government and the art of governing; one skilled in politics.

1. A man of artifice or deep contrivance.

POL'ITICS, noun The science of government; that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government of a nation or state, for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity; comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals. politics as a science or an art, is a subject of vast extent and importance.

POL'ITIZE, verb intransitive To play the politician. [Not in use.]

POL'ITURE, noun [See Polish.]

Polish; the gloss given by polishing. [Not used.]

POL'ITY, noun [Gr.] The form or constitution of civil government of a nation or state; and in free states, the frame or fundamental system by which the several branches of government are established, and the powers and duties or each designated and defined.

Every branch of our civil polity supports and is supported, regulates and is regulated by the rest.

With respect to their interior polity our colonies are properly of three sorts; provincial establishments, proprietary governments, and charter governments.

This word seems also to embrace legislation and administration of government.

1. The constitution or general fundamental principles of government of any class of citizens, considered in an appropriate character, or as a subordinate state.

Were the whole christian world to revert back to the original model, how far more simple, uniform and beautiful would the church appear, and how far more agreeable to the ecclesiastical polity instituted by the holy apostles.

POLL, noun

1. The head of a person, or the back part of the head, and in composition, applied to the head of a beast, as in poll-evil.

2. A register of heads, that is, of persons.

3. The entry of the names of electors who vote for civil officers. Hence,

4. An election of civil officers, or the place of election.

Our citizens say, at the opening or close of the poll that is, at the beginning of the register of voters and reception of votes, or the close of the same. They say also, we are going to the poll; many voters appeared at the poll

5. A fish called a chub or chevin. [See Pollard.]

POLL, verb transitive To lop the tops of trees.

1. To clip; to cut off the ends; to cut off hair or wool; to shear. The phrases, to poll the hair, and to poll the head, have been used. The latter is used in 2 Samuel 14:26. To poll a deed, is a phrase still used in law language.

2. To mow; to crop. [Not used.]

3. To peel; to strip; to plunder.

4. To take a list or register of persons; to enter names in a list.

5. To enter one's name in a list or register.

6. To insert into a number as a voter.

POL'LACK, noun A fish, a species of Gadus or cod.

POL'LARD, noun [from poll.] A tree lopped.

1. A clipped coin.

2. The chub fish.

3. A stag that has cast his horns.

4. A mixture of bran and meal.

POL'LARD, verb transitive To lop the tops of trees; to poll.

POL'LEN, noun [Latin pollen pollis, fine flour; pulvis.]

1. The fecundating dust or fine substance like flour or meal, contained in the anther of flowers, which is dispersed on the pistil for impregnation; farin or farina.

2. Fine bran.

POL'LENGER, noun Brushwood.

POL'LENIN, noun [from pollen.] A substance prepared from the pollen of tulips, highly inflammable, and insoluble in agents which dissolve other vegetable products. Exposed to the air, it soon undergoes putrefaction.

POLLER, noun [from poll.] One that shaves persons; a barber. [Not used.

1. One that lops or polls trees.

2. A pillager; a plunderer; one that fleeces by exaction. [Not used.]

3. One that registers voters, or one that enters his name as a voter.

POLLICITA'TION, noun [Latin pollicitatio.] A promise; a voluntary engagement, or a paper containing it.

POLLINC'TOR, noun [Latin] One that prepares materials for embalming the dead; a kind of undertaker.

POLLINIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin pollen and fero, to produce.]

Producing pollen.

POL'LOCK

POLLU'TE, verb transitive [Latin polluo; polluceo and possideo.]

1. To defile; to make foul or unclean; in a general sense. But appropriately, among the Jews, to make unclean or impure, in a legal or ceremonial sense, so as to disqualify a person for sacred services, or to render things unfit for sacred uses. Numbers 18:1. Exodus 20:1. 2 Kings 23:1. 2 Chronicles 36:1.

2. To taint with guilt.

Ye pollute yourselves with all your idols. Ezekiel 20:1.

3. To profane; to use for carnal or idolatrous purposes.

My sabbaths they greatly polluted. Ezekiel 20:1.

4. To corrupt or impair by mixture of ill, moral or physical.

Envy you my praise, and would destroy

With grief my pleasures, and pollute my joy?

5. To violate by illegal sexual commerce.

POLLU'TE, adjective Polluted; defiled.

POLLU'TE, v.t. [L. polluo; polluceo and possideo.]

POLLU'TE, a. Polluted; defiled.

POLLU'TED, participle passive Defiled; rendered unclean; tainted with guilt; impaired; profaned.

POLLU'TEDNESS, noun The state of being polluted; defilement.

POLLU'TER, noun A defiler; one that pollutes or profanes.

POLLU'TING, participle present tense Defiling; rendering unclean; corrupting; profaning.

POLLU'TION, noun [Latin pollutio.]

1. The act of polluting.

2. Defilement; uncleanness; impurity; the state of being polluted.

3. In the Jewish economy, legal or ceremonial uncleanness, which disqualified a person for sacred services or for common intercourse with the people, or rendered any thing unfit for sacred use.

4. In medicine, the involuntary emission of semen in sleep.

5. In a religious sense, guilt, the effect of sin; idolatry, etc.

POL'LUX, noun A fixed star of the second magnitude, in the constellation Gemini or the Twins.

1. [See Castor.]

POLONA'ISE

POLONE'SE, noun A robe or dress adopted from the fashion of the Poles; sometimes worn by ladies.

POLONE'SE, noun The Polish language.

POLONE'SE, n. A robe or dress adopted from the fashion of the Poles; sometimes worn by ladies.

POLONE'SE, n. The Polish language.

POLONOISE, noun In music, a movement of three crotchets in a bar, with the rhythmical cesure on the last.

POLT, noun A blow, stroke or striking; a word in common popular use in noun England.

POLTROON', noun An arrant coward; a dastard; a wretch without spirit or courage.

POLTROON'ERY, noun Cowardice; baseness of mind; want of spirit.

POL'VERIN

POL'VERINE, noun [Latin pulvis, dust.] The calcined ashes of a plant, of the nature of pot and pearl ashes, brought from the Levant and Syria. In the manufacture of glass, it is preferred to other ashes, as the glass made with it is perfectly white.

POL'VERINE, n. [L. pulvis, dust.] The calcined ashes of a plant, of the nature of pot and pearl ashes, brought from the Levant and Syria. In the manufacture of glass, it is preferred to other ashes, as the glass made with it is perfectly white.

PO'LY

POLYACOUS'TIC, adjective [Gr. many, and to hear.] That multiples or magnifies sound; as a noun, an instrument to multiply sounds.

POL'YADELPH, noun [Gr. many, and brother.

1. In botany, a plant having its stamens united in three or more bodies or bundles by the filaments.

POLYADELPH'IAN, adjective Having its stamens united in three or more bundles.

POLYAN'DER, noun [Gr. many, and a male.] In botany, a plant having many stamens, or any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.

POLYAN'DRIAN, adjective Having many stamens, that is, any number above twenty, inserted in the receptacle.

POLYAN'DRY, noun [supra.] The practice of females' having more husbands than one at the same time; plurality of husbands.

POL'YANTH

POLYANTH'OS, noun [Gr. many, and a flower.] A plant of the genus Primula or primrose, whose flower stalks produce flowers in clusters.

POLYAUTOG'RAPHY, noun [Gr. many, he himself, and to write.]

The act or practice of multiplying copies of one's own handwriting or of manuscripts, by engraving on stone; a species of lithography.

POL'YCHORD, adjective [Gr. many and chord.]

Having many chords or strings.

POL'YCHREST, noun [Gr. many, and useful.] In pharmacy, a medicine that serves for many uses, or that cures many diseases.

POL'YCHROITE, noun [Gr. many, and to color.]

The coloring matter of saffron.

POLYCOTYL'EDON, noun [Gr. many, and a cavity.] In botany, a plant that has many or more than two cotyledons or lobes to the seed.

POLYCOTYLED'ONOUS, adjective Having more than two lobes to the seed.

POLYEDRIC

POLYEDROUS. [See Polyhedron and Polyhedral.]

POL'YGAM

POLYGAM'IAN, noun [Gr. many, and marriage.] In botany, a plant which bears hermaphrodite flowers, with male or female flowers, or both, not inclosed in the same common calyx, but scattered either on the same plant, or on two or three distinct individuals.

POLYGAM'IAN, adjective Producing hermaphrodite flowers, with male or female flowers, or both.

POLYG'AMIST, noun [See Polygamy.] A person who maintains the lawfulness of polygamy.

POLYG'AMOUS, adjective Consisting of polygamy.

1. Inclined to polygamy; having a plurality of wives.

POLYG'AMY, noun [Gr. many, and marriage.] A plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; or the having of such plurality. When a man has more wives than one, or a woman more husbands than one, at the same time, the offender is punishable for polygamy Such is the fact in christian countries. But polygamy is allowed in some countries, as in Turkey.

POL'YGAR, noun In Hindoostan, an inhabitant of the woods.

POLYG'ENOUS, adjective [Gr. many, and kind.] Consisting of many kinds; as a polygenous mountain, which is composed of strata of different species of stone.

POL'YGLOT, adjective [Gr. many, and tongue.] Having or containing many languages; as a polyglot lexicon or Bible.

POL'YGLOT, noun A book containing many languages, particularly the Bible containing the Scriptures in several languages.

1. One who understands many languages. [Not in use.]

POL'YGON, noun [Gr. many, and an angle.] In geometry, a figure of many angles and sides, and whose perimeter consists at least of more than four sides.

POLYG'ONAL

POLYG'ONOUS, adjective Having many angles.

POLYG'ONUM

POL'YGON, noun [Gr. many, and knee or knot.] Knotgrass, a genus of plants so names from the numerous joints in the stem.

POL'YGRAM, noun [Gr. many, and a writing.]

A figure consisting of many lines.

POL'YGRAPH, noun [See Polygraphy.] An instrument for multiplying copies of a writing with ease and expedition.

POLYGRAPH'IC

POLYGRAPH'ICAL, adjective Pertaining to polygraphy; as a polygraphic instrument.

1. Done with a polygraph; as a polygraphic copy or writing.

POLYGRAPH'ICAL, a. Pertaining to polygraphy; as a polygraphic instrument.

POLYG'RAPHY, noun [Gr. many, and a writing; to write.]

The art of writing in various ciphers, and of deciphering the same.

POL'YGYN, noun [Gr. many, and a female.]

In botany, a plant having many pistils.

POLYGYN'IAN, adjective Having many pistils.

POLYG'YNY, noun [Gr. many, and a female.]

The practice of having more wives than one at the same time.

POLYHA'LITE, noun [Gr. many, and salt.] A mineral or salt occurring in masses of a fibrous structure, of a brick red color, being tinged with iron. It contains sulphates of lime, of magnesia, of potash and of soda.

POLYHE'DRAL

POLYHE'DRON, noun [Gr. many, and side.]

1. In geometry, a body or solid contained under many sides or planes.

2. In optics, a multiplying glass or lens consisting of several plane surfaces disposed in a convex form.

POLYHE'DRON, n. [Gr. many, and side.]

POLYHE'DROUS, adjective [See Polyhedron.] Having many sides; as a solid body.

POLYL'OGY, noun [Gr. many, and discourse.]

A talking much; talkativeness; garrulity. [Not in use.]

POLYMATH'IC, adjective [See Polymathy.] Pertaining to polymathy.

POLYM'ATHY, noun [Gr.many, and learning; to learn.] The knowledge of many arts and sciences; acquaintance with many branches of learning or with various subjects.

POL'YMNITE, noun [stone of many marshes.] A stone marked with dendrites and black lines, and so disposed as to represent rivers, marshes and ponds.

POL'YMORPH, noun [Gr. many and form.] A name given by Soldani to a numerous tribe or series of shells, which are very small, irregular and singular in form, and which cannot be referred to any known genus.

POLYMORPH'OUS, adjective [supra.] Having many forms.

POL'YNEME, noun A fish having a scaly compressed head, with a blunt prominent nose, and pliform appendages to the pectoral fins.

POLYNE'SIA, noun s as z. [Gr. many and isle.] A new term in geography, used to designate a great number of isles in the Pacific ocean, as the Pelew isles, the Ladrones, the Carolinas, the Sandwich isles, the Marquesas, the Society isles and the Friendly isles.

POLYNE'SIAN, adjective Pertaining to Polynesia.

POL'YNOME, noun [Gr. many and name.] In algebra, a quantity consisting of many terms.

POLYNO'MIAL, adjective Containing many names or terms.

POLYON'OMOUS, adjective [Gr. many and name.]

Having many names or titles; many-titled.

POLYON'OMY, noun [supra.] Variety of different names.

POLYOP'TRUM, . noun [Gr. many and to see.] A glass through which objects appear multiplied.

POL'YPE

POLYPET'ALOUS, adjective [Gr. many and a petal.] In botany, having many petals; as a polypetalous corol.

POLYPET'ALOUS, a. [Gr. many and a petal.] In botany, having many petals; as a polypetalous corol.

POLYPHON'IC, adjective [infra.] Having or consisting of many voices or sounds.

POLYPH'ONISM

POLYPH'ONY, noun [Gr. many and sound.] Multiplicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of an echo.

POLYPH'ONY, n. [Gr. many and sound.] Multiplicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of an echo.

POLYPH'YLLOUS, adjective [Gr. many and leaf.] In botany, many-leafed; as a polyphyllous calyx or perianth.

POL'YPIER, noun The name given to the habitations of polypes, or to the common part of those compound animals called polypes.

POL'YPITE, noun Fossil polype.

POL'YPODE, noun [Gr.] An animal having many feet; the milleped or wood-louse.

POLYP'ODY, noun [Latin polypodium, from the Greek. See Polype.]

A plant of the genus Polypodium, of the order of Filices or ferns. The fructifications are in roundish points, scattered over the inferior disk of the frons or leaf. There are numerous species, of which the most remarkable is the common male fern.

POL'YPOUS, adjective [from polypus.] Having the nature of the polypus; having many feet or roots, like the polypus; as a polypous concretion.

POL'YPUS, noun [Gr. many and foot.]

1. Something that has many feet or roots.

2. In zoology, a species of fresh water insect, belonging to the genus Hydra and order of zoophytes. Of this animal it is remarkable, that if cut into pieces, each part will shoot out a new head and tail and become a distinct animal. The general character of this animal is, it fixes itself by its base, is gelatinous, linear, naked, contractile, and capable of changing place.

The common name of all those small gelatinous animals, whose mouth is surrounded by tentacula or feelers, (whence the name, )

and conducts to a simple stomach, or one followed by intestines in the form of vessels. They constitute a distinct class or order of zoophytes, and include those compound animals, with a fixed and solid stem, which were formerly regarded as marine plants.

3. A concretion of blood in the heart and blood vessels.

4. A tumor with a narrow base, somewhat resembling a pear;

found in the nose, uterus, etc.

POL'YSCOPE, noun [Gr. many and to view.] A glass which makes a single object appear as many.

POL'YSPAST, noun [Gr. many and to draw.] A machine consisting of many pulleys.

POL'YSPERM, noun [Gr. many and seed.] A tree whose fruit contains many seeds.

POLYSPERM'OUS, adjective Containing many seeds; as a polyspermous capsule or berry.

POLYSYLLAB'IC

POLYSYLLAB'ICAL, adjective [from polysyllable.] Pertaining to a polysyllable; consisting of many syllables, or of more than three.

POLYSYLLAB'ICAL, a. [from polysyllable.] Pertaining to a polysyllable; consisting of many syllables, or of more than three.

POL'YSYLLABLE, noun [Gr.many and a syllable.] A word of many syllables, that is, consisting of more syllables than three, for words of a less number than four are called monosyllables, dissyllables and trisyllables.

POLYSYN'DETON, noun [Gr. many and connecting.] A figure of rhetoric by which the copulative is often repeated; as, 'we have ships and men and money and stores.'

POLYTECH'NIC, adjective [Gr.many and art.] Denoting or comprehending many arts; as a polytechnic school.

POL'YTHEISM, noun [Gr. many and God.] The doctrine of a plurality of gods or invisible beings superior to man, and having an agency in the government of the world.

POL'YTHEIST, noun A person who believes in or maintains the doctrine of a plurality of gods.

POLYTHEIS'TIC

POLYTHEIS'TICAL, adjective Pertaining to polytheism; as polytheistic belief or worship.

1. Holding a plurality of gods; as a polytheistic writer.

POLYTHEIS'TICAL, a. Pertaining to polytheism; as polytheistic belief or worship.

POMACE, noun [from Latin pomum, an apple.] The substance of apples or of similar fruit crushed by grinding. In America, it is so called before and after being pressed. [See Pomp and Pommel.]

POMA'CEOUS, adjective Consisting of apples; as pomaceous harvests.

1. Like pomace.

POMA'DE, noun Perfumed ointment. [Little used.]

PO'MANDER, noun A sweet ball; a perfumed ball or powder.

POMA'TUM, noun An unguent or composition used in dressing the hair. It is also used in medicine.

POMA'TUM, verb transitive To apply pomatum to the hair.

POME, noun [Latin pomum.] In botany, a pulpy pericarp without valves, containing a capsule or core, as the apple, pear, etc.

POME, verb intransitive To grow to a head, or form a head in growing. [Not used.]

POMECIT'RON, noun A citron apple.

POMEGRAN'ATE, noun [Latin pomum, an apple, and granatum, grained. See Grain and Granate.]

1. The fruit of a tree belonging to the genus Punica. This fruit is as large as an orange, having a hard rind filled with a soft pulp and numerous seeds. It is of a reddish color.

2. The tree that produces pomegranates.

3. An ornament resembling a pomegranate on the robe and ephod of the Jewish high priest.

PO'MEROY

POMEROY'AL, noun Royal apple; a particular sort of apple.

POMIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin pomum, an apple, and fero, to produce.]

Apple-bearing; an epithet applied to plants which bear the larger fruits, such as melons, gourds, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc. in distinction from the bacciferous or berry-bearing plants.

POMME

POMMEL, noun [Latin pomum, an apple, or a similar fruit.]

1. A knob or ball. 2 Chronicles 4:1.

2. The knob on the hilt of a sword; the protuberant part of a saddle-bow; the round knob on the frame of a chair, etc.

POMMEL, verb transitive [from the noun.] To beat as with a pommel, that is, with something thick or bulky; to bruise.

[The French se pommeler, to grow dapple, to curdle, is from the same source; but the sense is to make knobs or lumps, and hence to variegate, or make spots like knobs. The Welsh have from the same root, or pwmp, a mass, pwmpiaw, to form a round mass, and to thump, to bang, Eng. to bump.]

POMMEL, n. [L. pomum, an apple, or a similar fruit.]

POMMEL, v.t. [from the noun.] To beat as with a pommel, that is, with something thick or bulky; to bruise.

POMMELED, participle passive Beaten; bruised.

1. In heraldry, having pommels; as a sword or dagger.

POMME'LION, noun [from pommel.] The cascabel or hindmost knob of a cannon.

POMMETTE, noun In heraldry, a cross with one or more knobs at each of the ends.

POMP, noun [Latin pompa; bombus; Eng. bomb, bombast.]

1. A procession distinguished by ostentation of grandeur and splendor; as the pomp of a Roman triumph.

2. Show of magnificence; parade; splendor.

Hearts formed for love, but doom'd in vain to glow

In prison'd pomp and weep in splendid woe.

POMPAT'IC, adjective [Low Latin pompaticus, pompatus.]

Pompous; splendid; ostentatious. [Not in use.]

POMP'ET, noun The ball which printers use to black the types.

POM'PHOLYX, noun [Latin from Gr. a tumor; a blast, a puff, a bubble, a pustule. See Pomp.] The white oxyd which sublimes during the combustion of zink; called flowers of zink. It rises and adheres to the dome of the furnace and the covers of crucibles.

POMP'ION, noun [See Pomp and Pomace.] A pumpkin; a plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita.

POM'PIRE, noun [Latin pomum, apple, and pyrus, pear.]

A sort of pearmain.

POMPOS'ITY, noun Pompousness; ostentation; boasting.

POMP'OUS, adjective

1. Displaying pomp; showy with grandeur; splendid; magnificent; as a pompous procession; a pompous triumph.

2. Ostentatious; boastful; as a pompous account of private adventures.

POMP'OUSLY, adverb With great parade or display; magnificently; splendidly; ostentatiously.

POMP'OUSNESS, noun The state of being pompous; magnificence; splendor; great display of show; ostentatiousness.

POM'-WATER, noun The name of a large apple.

POMP'TINE, adjective [Latin pontina, a lake.] Designating a large marsh between Rome and Naples.

POND, noun [Latin pono; pontus, the sea.]

1. A body of stagnant water without an outlet, larger than a puddle, and smaller than a lake; or a like body of water with a small outlet. In the United States, we give this name to collections of water in the interior country, which are fed by springs, and from which issues a small stream. These ponds are often a mile or two or even more in length, and the current issuing from them is used to drive the wheels of mills and furnaces.

2. A collection of water raised in a river by a dam, for the purpose of propelling mill-wheels. These artificial ponds are called mill-ponds.

POND for fist. [See Fish-pond.]

POND, verb transitive [from the noun.] To make a pond; to collect in a pond by stopping the current of a river.

POND, verb transitive To ponder. [Not in use.]

PON'DER, verb transitive [Latin pondero, from pondo, pondus, a pound; pendeo, pendo, to weigh.]

1. To weigh in the mind; to consider and compare the circumstances or consequences of an event, or the importance of the reasons for or against a decision.

Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19.

2. To view with deliberation; to examine.

Ponder the path of thy feet. Proverbs 4:26.

The Lord pondereth the hearts. Proverbs 21:2.

To ponder on, is sometimes used, but is not be to countenanced.

PON'DERABLE, adjective That may be weighed; capable of being weighed.

PON'DERAL, adjective [from Latin pondus, weight.] Estimated or ascertained by weight, as distinguished from numeral; as a ponderal drachma.

PON'DERANCE, noun Weight; gravity.

PON'DERATE, verb transitive To weigh in the mind; to consider. [Not in use.]

PONDERA'TION, noun The act of weighing. [Little used.]

PON'DERED, participle passive Weighed in the mind; considered; examined by intellectual operation.

PON'DERER, noun One that weighs in his mind.

PON'DERING, participle present tense Weighing intellectually; considering; deliberating on.

PON'DERINGLY, adverb With consideration or deliberation.

PONDEROS'ITY, noun Weight; gravity; heaviness.

PON'DEROUS, adjective [Latin ponderosus.]

1. Very heavy; weighty; as a ponderous shield; a ponderous load.

2. Important; momentous; as a ponderous project. [This application of the word is unusual.]

3. Forcible; strongly impulsive; as a motion vehement or ponderous; a ponderous blow.

Ponderous spar, heavy spar, or baryte.

PON'DEROUSLY, adverb With great weight.

PON'DEROUSNESS, noun Weight; heaviness; gravity.

PO'NENT, adjective [Latin ponens, form pono, to set.]

Western; as the ponent winds. [Little used.]

PON'GO, noun A name of the orang outang.

The name pongo was applied by Buffon to a large species of orang outang, which is now ascertained to have been an imaginary animal. It is applied by Cuvier to the largest species of ape known, which inhabits Borneo, and resembles the true orang outang in its general form and erect position, but has the cheek pouches and lengthened muzzle of the baboon. It has also been applied [Ed.Encyc.] to the Simia troglodytes or chimpanzee of Curvier, a native of W. Africa.

PONIARD, noun pon'yard. [Latin pugnus.] A small dagger; a pointed instrument for stabbing, borne in the hand or at the girdle, or in the pocket.

PONIARD, verb transitive pon'yard. To pierce with a poniard; to stab.

PONK, noun A nocturnal spirit; a hag. [Not in use.]

PONT'AGE, noun [Latin pons, pontis, a bridge.]

A duty paid for repairing bridges.

PONTEE', noun In glass words, an iron instrument used to stick the glass at the bottom, for the more convenient fashioning the neck of it.

PONT'IC, adjective [Latin Pontus, the Euxine sea.]

Pertaining to the Pontus, Euxine, or Black Sea.

PONT'IF, noun [Latin pontifex; said to be from pons, a bridge, and facio, to make.] A high priest. The Romans had a college of pontifs; the Jews had their pontifs; and in modern times, the pope is called pontif or sovereign pontif

PONTIF'IC, adjective Relating to priests; popish.

PONTIF'ICAL, adjective [Latin pontificalis.] Belonging to a high priest; as pontifical authority; hence, belonging to the pope; popish.

1. Splendid; magnificent.

2. Bridge-building. [Not used.]

PONTIF'ICAL, noun A book containing rites and ceremonies ecclesiastical.

1. The dress and ornaments of a priest or bishop.

PONTIFICAL'ITY, noun The state and government of the pope; the papacy. [Not used.]

PONTIF'ICALLY, adverb In a pontifical manner.

PONTIF'ICATE, noun [Latin pontificatus.] The state or dignity of a high priest; particularly, the office or dignity of the pope.

He turned hermit in the view of being advanced to the pontificate

1. The reign of a pope.

Painting, sculpture and architecture may all recover themselves under the present pontificate

PONT'IFICE, noun Bridge-work; structure or edifice of a bridge. [Little used.]

PONTIFI'CIAL, adjective Popish.

PONTIFI'CIAN, adjective Popish; papistical.

PONTIFI'CIAN, noun One that adheres to the pope; a papist.

PON'TINE

PONT'LEVIS, noun In horsemanship, a disorderly resisting of a horse by rearing repeatedly on his hind legs, so as to be in danger of coming over.

PONTOON', noun [Latin pons, a bridge, probably from the root of pono, to lay.]

1. A flat-bottomed boat, whose frame of wood is covered and lined with tin, or covered with copper; used in forming bridges over rivers for armies.

2. A lighter; a low flat vessel resembling a barge, furnished with cranes, capstans and other machinery; used in careening ships, chiefly in the Mediterranean.

PONTOON-bridge, is a bridge formed with pontoons, anchored or made fast in two lines, about five feet asunder.

PONTOON-Carriage, is made with two wheels only, and two long side pieces, whose fore ends are supported by timbers.

PO'NY, noun A small horse.

POOD, noun A Russian weight, equal to 40 Russian or 36 English pounds.

POOL, noun [Latin palus; Gr. probably from setting, standing, like Latin stagnum, or from issuing, as a spring.]

A small collection of water in a hollow place, supplied by a spring, and discharging its surplus water by an outlet. It is smaller than a lake, and in New England is never confounded with pond or lake. It signifies with us, a spring with a small basin or reservoir on the surface of the earth. It is used by writers with more latitude, and sometimes signifies a body of stagnant water.

POOL

POOP, noun [Latin puppis; probably a projection.]

The highest and aftmost part of a ship's desk.

POOP, verb transitive To strike upon the stern, as a heavy sea.

1. To strike the stern, as one vessel that runs her stem against another's stern.

POOP'ING, noun The shock of a heavy sea on the stern or quarter of a ship, when scudding in a tempest; also, the action of one ship's running her stem against another's stern.

POOR, adjective [Latin pauper.]

1. Wholly destitute of property, or not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence; needy. It is often synonymous with indigent, and with necessitous, denoting extreme want; it is also applied to persons who are not entirely destitute of property, but are not rich; as a poor man or woman; poor people

2. In law, so destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.

3. Destitute of strength, beauty or dignity; barren; mean; jejune; as a poor composition; a poor essay; a poor discourse.

4. Destitute of value, worth or importance; of little use; trifling.

That I have wronged no man, will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.

5. Paltry; mean; of little value; as a poor coat; a poor house.

6. Destitute of fertility; barren; exhausted; as poor land. The ground is become poor

7. Of little worth; unimportant; as in my poor opinion.

8. Unhappy; pitiable.

Vex'd sailors curse the rain

For which poor shepherds pray'd in vain.

9. Mean; depressed; low; dejected; destitute of spirit.

A soothsayer made Antonius believe that his genius, which was otherwise brave, was, in the presence of Octavianus, poor and cowardly.

10. Lean; emaciated; as a poor horse. The ox is poor

11. Small, or of a bad quality; as a poor crop; a poor harvest.

12. Uncomfortable; restless; ill. The patient has had a poor night.

13. Destitute of saving grace. Revelation 3:17.

14. In general, wanting good qualities, or the qualities which render a thing valuable, excellent, proper, or sufficient for its purpose; as a poor pen; a poor ship; a poor carriage; poor fruit; poor bread; poor wine, etc.

15. A word of tenderness or pity; dear.

POOR, little, pretty, fluttering thing.

16. A word of slight contempt; wretched.

The poor monk never saw many of the decrees and councils he had occasion to use.

17. The poor collectively, used as a noun; those who are destitute of property; the indigent; the needy; in a legal sense, those who depend on charity or maintenance by the public.

I have observed the more public provisions are made for the poor the less they provide for themselves.

POOR in spirit, in a Scriptural sense, humble; contrite; abased in one's own sight by a sense of guilt. Matthew 5:3.

POOR'JOHN, noun A sort of fish [callarius] of the genus Gadus.

POOR'LY, adverb Without wealth; in indigence or want of the conveniences and comforts of life; as, to live poorly

1. With little or no success; with little growth, profit or advantage; as, wheat grows poorly on the Atlantic borders of New England; these men have succeeded poorly in business.

2. Meanly; without spirit.

Nor is their courage or their wealth so low,

That from his wars they poorly would retire.

3. Without excellence or dignity. He performs poorly in elevated characters.

POOR'LY, adjective Somewhat ill; indisposed; not in health; a common use of the word in America.

For three or four weeks past I have lost ground, having been poorly in health.

POOR'NESS, noun Destitution of property; indigence; poverty; want; as the poorness of the exchequer.

No less I hate him than the gates of hell,

That poorness can force an untruth to tell.

[In this sense, we generally use poverty.]

1. Meanness; lowness; want of dignity; as the poorness of language.

2. Want of spirit; as poorness and degeneracy of spirit.

3. Barrenness; sterility; as the poorness of land or soil.

4. Unproductiveness; want of the metallic substance; as the poorness of ore.

5. Smallness or bad quality; as the poorness of crops or of grain.

6. Want of value or importance; as the poorness of a plea.

7. Want of good qualities, or the proper qualities which constitute a thing good in its kind; as the poorness of a ship or of cloth.

8. Narrowness; barrenness; want of capacity.

Poorness of spirit, in a theological sense, true humility or contrition of heart on account of sin.

POP, noun A small smart quick sound or report.

POP, verb intransitive To enter or issue forth with a quick, sudden motion.

I startled at his popping upon me unexpectedly.

1. To dart; to start from place to place suddenly.

POP, verb transitive To thrust or push suddenly with a quick motion.

He popp'd a paper into his hand.

Did'st thou never pop

Thy head into a tinman's shop?

To pop off, to thrust away; to shift off.

POP, adverb Suddenly; with sudden entrance or appearance.

POPE, noun [Low Latin papa.]

1. The bishop of Rome, the head of the catholic church.

2. A small fish, called also a ruff.

PO'PEDOM, noun The place, office or dignity of the pope; papal dignity.

1. The jurisdiction of the pope.

PO'PELING, noun An adherent of the pope.

PO'PERY, noun The religion of the church of Rome, comprehending doctrines and practices.

POP'GUN, noun A small gun or tube used by children to shoot wads and make a noise.

POP'INJAY, noun

1. A parrot.

2. A woodpecker, a bird with a gay head.

The green woodpecker, with a scarlet crown, a native of Europe.

3. A gay, trifling young man; a fop or coxcomb.

PO'PISH, adjective Relating to the pope; taught by the pope; pertaining to the pope or to the church of Rome; as popish tenets or ceremonies.

PO'PISHLY, adverb In a popish manner; with a tendency to popery; as, to be popishly affected or inclined.

POP'LAR, noun [Latin populus.] A tree of the genus Populus, of several species, as the abele, the white poplar the black poplar the aspen-tree, etc. It is numbered among the aquatic trees.

POP'LIN, noun A stuff made of silk and worsted.

POPLIT'EAL

POPLIT'IC, adjective [from Latin poples, the ham.]

Pertaining to the ham or knee joint.

POPPET. [See Puppet.]

POP'PY, noun [Latin papaver.] A plant of the genus Papaver, of several species, from one of which, the somniferum or white poppy is collected opium. This is the milky juice of the capsule when half grown, which exudes from incisions in the cortical part of the capsule, is scraped off, and worked in an iron pot in the sun's heat, till it is of a consistence to form cakes.

POP'ULACE, noun [Latin populus. See People.] The common people; the vulgar; the multitude, comprehending all persons not distinguished by rank, education, office, profession or erudition.

POP'ULACY, noun The populace or common people.

POP'ULAR, adjective [Latin popularis. See People.]

1. Pertaining to the common people; as the popular voice; popular elections.

So the popular vote inclines.

2. Suitable to common people; familiar; plain; easy to be comprehended; not critical or abstruse.

Homilies are plain and popular instructions.

3. Beloved by the people; enjoying the favor of the people; pleasing to people in general; as a popular governor; a popular preacher; a popular ministry; a popular discourse; a popular administration; a popular war or peace. Suspect the man who endeavors to make that popular which is wrong.

4. Ambitious; studious of the favor of the people.

A popular man is in truth no better than a prostitute to common fame and to the people.

[This sense is not used. It is more customary to apply this epithet to a person who has already gained the favor of the people.]

5. Prevailing among the people; extensively prevalent; as a popular disease.

6. In law, a popular action is one which gives a penalty to the person that sues for the same.

[Note. popular at least in the United States, is not synonymous with vulgar; the latter being applied to the lower classes of people, the illiterate and low bred; the former is applied to all classes, or to the body of the people, including a great portion at least of well educated citizens.]

POPULAR'ITY, noun [Latin popularitas.] Favor of the people; the state of possessing the affections and confidence of the people in general; as the popularity of the ministry; the popularity of a public officer or of a preacher. It is applied also to things; as the popularity of a law or public measure; the popularity of a book or poem. The most valuable trait in a patriot's character is to forbear all improper compliances for gaining popularity

I have long since learned the little value which is to be placed in popularity acquired by any other way than virtue; I have also learned that it is often obtained by other means.

The man whose ruling principle is duty--is never perplexed with anxious corroding calculations of interest and popularity

1. Representation suited to vulgar or common conception; that which is intended or adapted to procure the favor of the people. [Little used.]

POP'ULARIZE, verb transitive To make popular or common; to spread among the people; as, to popularize philosophy or physics; to popularize a knowledge of chimical principles.

POP'ULARIZED, participle passive Made popular, or introduced among the people.

POP'ULARIZING, participle present tense Making popular, or introducing among the people.

POP'ULARLY, adverb In a popular manner; so as to please the populace.

The victor knight,

Bareheadaed, popularly low had bow'd.

1. According to the conceptions of the common people.

POP'ULATE, verb intransitive [Latin populus.] To breed people; to propagate.

When there be great shoals of people which go on to populate

POP'ULATE, verb transitive To people; to furnish with inhabitants, either by natural increase, or by immigration or colonization.

POPULATE, for populous, is not now in use.

POP'ULATED, participle passive Furnished with inhabitants; peopled.

POP'ULATING, participle present tense Peopling.

POPULA'TION, noun The act or operation of peopling or furnishing with inhabitants; multiplication of inhabitants. The value of our western lands is annually enhanced by population

1. The whole number of people or inhabitants in a country. The population of England is estimated at ten millions of souls; that of the United States in 1823, was ten millions.

A country may have a great population and yet not be populous.

2. The state of a country with regard to its number of inhabitants, or rather with regard to its numbers compared with their expenses, consumption of goods and productions, and earnings.

Neither is the population to be reckoned only by number; for a smaller number that spend more and earn less, do wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that live lower and gather more.

POPULOS'ITY, noun Populousness. [Not used.]

POP'ULOUS, adjective [Latin populosus.] Full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country. A territory containing fifteen or twenty inhabitants to a square mile is not a populous country. The Netherlands, and some parts of Italy, containing a hundred and fifty inhabitants to a square mile, are deemed populous

POP'ULOUSLY, adverb With many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country.

POP'ULOUSNESS, noun The state of having many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country.

By populousness in contradistinction to population, is understood the proportion the number bears to the surface of the ground they live on.

POR'CATED, adjective [Latin porca, a ridge.] Ridged; formed in ridges.

POR'CELAIN, noun [Latin portulaca.]

1. The finest species of earthen ware, originally manufactured in China and Japan, but now made in several European countries. All earthen wares which are white and semi-transparent, are called porcelains, but they differ much in their fineness and beauty. The porcelain of China is said to be made of two species of earth, the petuntse, which is fusible, and the kaolin, which is not fusible, or not with the degree of heat which fuses the petuntse, and that in porcelain the substances are only semi-vitrified, or one substance only is vitrified, the other not. Hence it is concluded that porcelain is an intermediate substance between earth and glass. Hence the second degree of fusibility, of which emollescence is the first, is called by Kirwan the porcelain state.

2. The plant called purslain, which see.

PORCELLA'NEOUS, adjective [from porcelain.] Pertaining to or resembling porcelain; as porcellaneous shells.

POR'CELLANITE, noun A silicious mineral, a species of jasper, of various colors. It seems to be formed accidentally in coal mines which have indurated and semi-vitrified beds of coal-shale or slate-clay. It is sometimes marked with vegetable impressions of a brick red color.

PORCH, noun [Latin porticus, from porta, a gate, entrance or passage, or from portus, a shelter.]

1. In architecture, a kind of vestibule supported by columns at the entrance of temples, halls, churches or other buildings.

2. A portico; a covered walk.

3. By way of distinction, the porch was a public portico in Athens, where Zeno, the philosopher, taught his disciples. It was called the painted porch from the pictures of Polygnotus and other eminent painters, with which it was adorned. Hence, the porch is equivalent to the school of the Stoics.

POR'CINE, adjective [Latin porcinus, from porcus. See Pork.]

Pertaining to swine; as the porcine species of animals.

POR'CUPINE, noun [Latin porcus; spina, a spine or thorn.]

In zoology, a quadruped of the genus Hystrix. The crested porcupine has a body about two feet in length, four toes on each of the fore feet, and five on each of the hind feet, a crested head, a short tail, and the upper lip divided like that of the hare. The body is covered with prickles which are very sharp, and some of them nine or ten inches long; these he can erect at pleasure. When attacked, he rolls his body into a round form, in which position the prickles are presented in every direction to the enemy. This species is a native of Africa and Asia.

PORE, noun [Gr. to go, to pass.; Eng. to fare. See Fare.]

1. In anatomy, a minute interstice in the skin of an animal, through which the perspirable matter passes to the surface or is excreted.

2. A small spiracle, opening or passage in other substances; as the pores of plants or of stones.

PORE, verb intransitive [Gr. to inspect.] To look with steady continued attention or application. To pore on, is to read or examine with steady perseverance, to dwell on; and the word seems to be limited in its application to the slow patient reading or examination of books, or something written or engraved.

Painfully to pore upon a book.

With sharpened sight pale antiquaries pore

PO'RER, noun One who pores or studies diligently.

POR'GY, noun A fish of the gilt-head kind.

PO'RINESS, noun [from pory.]

The state of being pory or having numerous pores.

PO'RISM, noun [Gr. acquisition, to gain, a passing, to pass.]

In geometry, a name given by ancient geometers to two classes of propositions. Euclid gave this name to propositions involved in others which he was investigating, and obtained without a direct view to their discovery. These he called acquisitions, but such propositions are now called corollaries. A porism is defined, 'a proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions.' It is not a theorem, nor a problem, or rather it includes both. It asserts that a certain problem may become indeterminate, and so far it partakes of the nature of a theorem, and in seeking to discover the conditions by which this may be effected, it partakes of the nature of a problem.

PORIS'TIC

PORIS'TICAL, adjective Pertaining to a porism; seeking to determine by what means and in how many ways a problem may be solved.

PORIS'TICAL, a. Pertaining to a porism; seeking to determine by what means and in how many ways a problem may be solved.

PO'RITE, noun plural porites. A petrified madrepore.

PORK, noun [Latin porcus, a hog or pig; porca, a ridge; or from his snout and rooting.] The flesh of swine, fresh or salted, used for food.

PORK'EATER, noun One that feeds on swine's flesh.

PORKER, noun A hog; a pig. [Not used in America.]

PORKET, noun A young hog.

PORKLING, noun A pig.

POROS'ITY, noun [from porous.] The quality or state of having pores or interstices.

PO'ROUS, adjective [from pore.] Having interstices in the skin or substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; as a porous skin; porous wood; porous earth.

PO'ROUSNESS, noun The quality of having pores, porosity; as the porousness of the skin of an animal, or of wood, or of fossils.

1. The porous parts. [Not authorized.]

POR'PESS, noun In zoology, a cetaceous fish of the genus Delphinus, whose back is usually blackish or brown, whence it is called in Dutch, bruinvisch, brown fish; the body is thick towards the head, but more slender towards the tail, which is semi-lunar. This fish preys on other fish, and seeks food not only by swimming, but by rooting like a hog in the sand and mud, whence some persons suppose the name has been given to it.

Of cetaceous fish, we met with porpesses, or as some sailors call them, sea-hogs.

PORPHYRA'CEOUS, adjective [See Porphyry.] Pertaining to porphyry; resembling porphyry.

1. Containing or composed of porphyry; as porphyraceous mountains.

PORPHYRIT'IC

POR'PHYRIZE, verb transitive To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in its composition.

POR'PHYRIZE, v.t. To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in its composition.

POR'PHYRY, noun [Gr. purple; Latin porphyrites.] A mineral consisting of a homogeneous ground with crystals of some other mineral imbedded, giving to the mass a speckled complexion. One variety of Egyptian porphyry has a purple ground, whence the name of the species; but the homogeneous ground with imbedded crystals, being all that is essential to porphyry its composition and colors are consequently various.

Porphyry is very hard, and susceptible of a fine polish.

Porphyry is composed of paste in which are disseminated a multitude of little angular and granuliform parts, of a color different from the ground.

POR'PITE

POR'PITES, noun The hair-button-stone, a small species of fossil coral of a roundish figure, flattened and striated from the center to the circumference; found immersed in stone.

POR'PITES, n. The hair-button-stone, a small species of fossil coral of a roundish figure, flattened and striated from the center to the circumference; found immersed in stone.

PORRA'CEOUS, adjective [Latin porraceus, from porrum, a leek or onion.]

Greenish; resembling the leek in color.

PORREC'TION, noun [Latin porrectio, porrigo; per or por; Eng. for, fore, and rego; to reach.] The act of stretching forth. [Not used.]

POR'RET, noun [Latin porrum.] A scallion; a leek or small onion.

POR'RIDGE, noun [Latin farrago, or from porrum, a leek.]

A kind of food made by boiling meat in water; broth.

This mixture is usually called in America, broth or soup, but not porridge With us, porridge is a mixture of meal or flour, boiled with water. Perhaps this distinction is not always observed.

POR'RINGER, noun

1. A small metal vessel in which children eat porridge or milk, or used in the nursery for warming liquors.

2. A head-dress in the shape of a porringer; in contempt.

PORT, noun [Latin portus, porto, to carry; Latin fero; Eng. to bear.]

1. A harbor; a haven; any bay, cove, inlet or recess of the sea or of a lake or the mouth of a river, which ships or vessels can enter, and where they can lie safe from injury by storms. Ports may be natural or artificial, and sometimes works of art, as piers and moles, are added to the natural shores of a place to render a harbor more safe. The word port is generally applied to spacious harbors much resorted to be ships, as the port of London or of Boston, and not to small bays or coves which are entered occasionally, or in stress of weather only. Harbor includes all places of safety for shipping.

2. A gate. [Latin porta.]

From their ivory port the cherubim

Forth issued.

3. An embrasure or opening in the side of a ship of war, through which cannon are discharged; a port-hole.

4. The lid which shuts a port-hole.

5. Carriage; air; mien; manner of movement or walk; demeanor; external appearance; as a proud port; the port of a gentleman.

Their port was more than human.

With more terrific port

Thou walkest.

6. In seamen's language, the larboard or left side of a ship; as in the phrase, 'the ship heels to port ' 'Port the helm, ' is an order to put the helm to the larboard side.

7. A kind of wine made in Portugal; so called from Oporto.

of the voice, in music, the faculty or habit of making the shakes, passages and diminutions, in which the beauty of a song consists.

PORT, verb transitive To carry in form; as ported spears.

1. To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship. See the noun, No.6. It is used in the imperative.

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, noun The quality of being portable.

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

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

[Not used.]

PORTATIVE, adjective Portable. [Not used.]

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.

PORTCUL'LISED, adjective Having a portcullis.

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

PORTED, adjective Having gates. [Not used.]

1. Borne in a certain or regular order.

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.

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

PORTEND'ING, participle present tense Foreshowing.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

PORTESSE. [See Portass.]

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

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

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, 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, participle passive Divided into shares or parts.

1. Endowed; furnished with a portion.

PORTIONER, noun One who divides or assigns in shares.

PORTIONING, participle present tense Dividing; endowing.

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.

PORTLAST

PORTLID, noun The lid that closes a porthole.

PORTLID, n. The lid that closes a porthole.

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

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

1. Bulky; corpulent.

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

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, 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, noun A portrait; painted resemblance.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.

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

The chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

POSOLOG'ICAL, adjective Pertaining to posology.

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

In medicine, the science or doctrine of doses.

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', 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.

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

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

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.]

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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, 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

POSTED, participle passive Placed; stationed.

1. Exposed on a post or by public notice.

2. Carried to a ledger, as accounts.

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

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.]

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

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

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, 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, 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.

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

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

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

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.

POST'HUMOUSLY, adverb After one's decease.

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

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.

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

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, 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.

POSTLIMIN'IAR

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Being or belonging to the afternoon; as postmeridian sleep.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

POS'TULATORY, adjective Assuming without proof.

1. Assumed without proof.

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

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.

PO'SY, noun s as z.

1. A motto inscribed on a ring, etc.

2. A bunch of flowers.

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.

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.

PO'TABLENESS, noun The quality of being drinkable.

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

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

POTAG'RO

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

1. A drinking or drinking bout.

2. A draught.

3. A species of drink.

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

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

PO'TELOT, noun The sulphuret of molybden.

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

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.

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.]

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

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.

POTEN'TIAL, adjective [Latin potentialis.] Having power to impress on us the ideas of certain qualities, though the qualities are not inherent in the thing; as potential heat or cold.

1. Existing in possibility, not in act.

This potential and imaginary materia prima, cannot exist without form.

2. Efficacious; powerful. [Not in use.]

Potential cautery, in medicine, is the consuming or reducing to an eschar, any part of the body by a caustic alkaline or metallic salt, etc. instead of a red hot iron, the use of which is called actual cautery.

Potential mode, in grammar, is that form of the verb which is used to express the power, possibility, liberty or necessity of an action or of being; as, I may go; he can write. This, in English, is not strictly a distinct mode, but the indicative or declarative mode, affirming the power to act, instead of the act itself. I may go or can go, are equivalent to, I have power to go.

POTEN'TIAL, noun Any thing that may be possible.

POTENTIAL'ITY, noun Possibility; not actuality.

POTEN'TIALLY, adverb In possibility; not in act; not positively.

This duration of human souls is only potentially infinite.

1. In efficacy, not in actuality; as potentially cold.

PO'TENTLY, adverb Powerfully; with great force or energy.

You are potently opposed.

PO'TENTNESS, noun Powerfulness; strength; might. [Little used.]

PO'TESTATIVE, adjective [from Latin potestas.] Authoritative. [Not used.]

POTGUN, for popgun. [Not used.]

POT'-HANGER, noun [pot and hanger.] A pot-hook.

POTH'ECARY, contracted from apothecary, and very vulgar. [See the latter.]

POTH'ER, noun [This word is vulgarly pronounced bother. Its origin and affinities are not ascertained.]

1. Bustle; confusion; tumult; flutter. [Low.]

2. A suffocating cloud.

POTH'ER, verb intransitive To make a blustering ineffectual effort; to make a stir.

POTH'ER, verb transitive To harass and perplex; to puzzle.

POT'HERB, noun An herb for the pot or for cookery; a culinary plant.

PO'TION, noun [Latin potio; poto, to drink.]

A draught; usually, a liquid medicine; a dose.

POT'LID, noun The lid or cover of a pot.

POT'-MAN, noun A pot companion.

POT'SHERD, noun A piece or fragment of a broken pot. Job 2:8.

POT'STONE, noun potstone appears to be indurated black talck, passing into serpentine. It has a curved and undulatingly lamellar structure, passing into slaty.

Potstone is of a greenish gray color. It occurs massive, or in granular concretions.

Potstone is a variety of steatite.

POT'TAGE, noun Broth; soup. [See Potage, the more correct orthography.]

POT'TED, participle passive Preserved or inclosed in a pot; drained in a cask.

POT'TER, noun [form pot.] One whose occupation is to make earthen vessels.

POT'TERY, noun The vessels or ware made by potters; earthen ware, glazed and baked.

1. The place where earthen vessels are manufactured.

POT'TING, noun [form pot.] Drinking; tippling.

1. In the W. Indies, the process of putting sugar in casks for draining.

POT'TING, participle present tense Preserving in a pot; draining, as above; drinking.

POT'TLE, noun

1. A liquid measure of four pints.

2. A vessel; a pot or tankard.

POUCH, noun

1. A small bag; usually, a leathern bag to be carried in the pocket.

2. A protuberant belly.

3. The bag or sack of a fowl, as that of the pelican.

POUCH, verb transitive To pocket; to save.

1. To swallow; used of fowls, whose crop is called in French, poche.

2. To pout. [Not used.]

POUCH'-MOUTHED, adjective Blubber-lipped. [Not used.]

POUL'-DAVIS, noun A sort of sail cloth. [Not used.]

POULE. [See Pool.]

POULE, noun The stakes played for in certain games of cards.

POULT, noun A young chicken. [Little used.]

POULTERER, noun

1. One who makes it his business to sell fowls for the table.

2. Formerly, in England, an officer of the king's household, who had the charge of the poultry.

POULTICE, noun [Latin puls, pultis.] A cataplasm; a soft composition of meal, bran, or the like substance, to be applied to sores, inflamed parts of the body, etc.

POULTICE, verb transitive To apply a cataplasm to.

POULTIVE, for poultice, is not used.

POULTRY, noun [Latin pullus, a chicken, or other young animal; allied to Eng. foal; Latin pullulo.] Domestic fowls which are propagated and fed for the table, such as cocks and hens, capons, turkeys, ducks and geese.

POUNCE, noun pouns.

1. Gum-sandarach pulverized, a fine powder used to prevent ink from spreading on paper.

2. Charcoal dust inclosed in some open stuff, as muslin, etc. to be passed over holes pricked in the work, to mark the lines or designs on a paper underneath. This kind of pounce is used by embroiderers to transfer their patterns upon their stuffs; also by lace-makers, and sometimes by engravers. It is also used in varnishing.

3. Cloth worked in eyelet-holes.

POUNCE, verb transitive To sprinkle or rub with pounce

POUNCE, noun [Latin pungo.] The claw or talon of a bird of prey.

POUNCE, verb intransitive To fall on suddenly; to fall on and seize with the claws; as, a rapacious fowl pounces on a chicken.

POUN'CED, pp. Furnished with claws or talons.

POUND, noun [Latin pondo, pondus, weight, a pound; pendo, to weigh, to bend.]

1. A standard weight consisting of twelve ounces troy or sixteen ounces avoirdupois.

2. A money of account consisting of twenty shillings, the value of which is different in different countries. The pound sterling is equivalent to $4.44.44 cts. money of the United States. In New England and Virginia, the pound is equal to $3 1/3; in New York to $2 1/2.

POUND, noun An inclosure erected by authority, in which cattle or other beasts are confined when taken in trespassing, or going at large in violation of law; a pin-fold.

POUND, verb transitive To confine in a public pound

POUND, verb transitive

1. To beat; to strike with some heavy instrument, and with repeated blows, so as to make an impression.

With cruel blows she pounds her blubber'd cheeks.

2. To comminute and pulverize by beating; to bruise or break into fine parts by a heavy instrument; as, to pound spice or salt.

Loud strokes with pounding spice the fabric rend.

POUND'AGE, noun [from pound.] A sum deducted from a pound, or a certain sum paid for each pound.

1. In England, a subsidy of 12d. in the pound, granted to the crown on all goods exported or imported, and if by aliens, more.

POUND'BREACH, noun The breaking of a public pound for releasing beasts confined in it.

POUND'ED, participle passive Beaten or bruised with a heavy instrument; pulverized or broken by pounding.

1. Confined in a pound; impounded.

POUND'ER, noun A postle; the instrument of pounding.

1. A person or thing denominated from a certain number of pounds; as a cannon is called a twelve-pounder; a person of ten pounds annual income is called a ten-pounder; a note or bill is called a ten-pounder.

2. A large pear.

Pound foolish. The phrase, penny wise and pound foolish, signified negligent in the care of large sums, but careful to save small sums.

POUND'ING, participle present tense Beating; bruising; pulverizing; impounding.

POUPETON, noun A puppet or little baby.

POUPIES, noun In cookery, a mess of victuals made of veal steaks and slices of bacon.

POUR, verb transitive

1. To throw, as a fluid in a stream, either out of a vessel, or into it; as, to pour water from a pail, or out of a pail; to pour wine into a decanter. pour is appropriately but not exclusively applied to fluids, and signifies merely to cast or throw, and this sense is modified by out, from, in, into, against, on, upon, under, etc. It is applied not only to liquors, but to other fluids, and to substances consisting of fine particles; as, to pour a stream of gas or air upon a fire; to pour out sand. It expresses particularly the bestowing or sending forth in copious abundance.

I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Joel 2:28.

To pour out dust. Lex.14.

2. To emit; to send forth in a stream or continued succession.

London doth pout out her citizens.

3. To send forth; as, to pour out words, prayers or sighs; to pour out the heart or soul. Psalms 62:8.

4. To throw in profusion or with overwhelming force.

I will shortly pour out my fury on thee. Ezekiel 7:8.

POUR, verb intransitive To flow; to issue forth in a stream, or continued succession of parts; to move or rush, as a current. The torrent pours down from the mountain, or along the steep descent.

1. To rush in a crowd or continued procession.

A ghastly band of giants,

All pouring down the mountain, crowd the shore.

POURED, participle passive Sent forth; thrown; as a fluid.

POURER, noun One that pours.

POURING, participle present tense Sending, as a fluid; driving in a current or continued stream.

POURLIEU. [See Purlieu.]

POURPRES'TURE, noun In law, a wrongful inclosure or encroachment on another's property.

POURSUIVANT. [See Pursuivant.]

POURVEYANCE. [See Purveyance.]

POUSSE, corrupted from pulse, peas.

POUT, noun A fish of the genus Gadus, about an inch in length; the whiting pout

1. A bird.

2. A fit of sullenness. [Colloquial.]

POUT, verb intransitive

1. To thrust out the lips, as in sullenness, contempt or displeasure; hence, to look sullen.

2. To shoot out; to be prominent; as pouting lips.

POU'TER, noun A variety of the common domestic pigeon, with an inflated breast.

POUT'ING, participle present tense Shooting out, as the lips.

1. Looking sullen.

POV'ERTY, noun [Latin paupertas. See Poor.]

1. Destitution of property; indigence; want of convenient means of subsistence. The consequence of poverty is dependence.

The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty Proverbs 23:21.

2. Barrenness of sentiment or ornament; defect; as the poverty of a composition.

3. Want; defect of words; as the poverty of language.

POW'DER, noun [Latin pulvis.]

1. Any dry substance composed of minute particles, whether natural or artificial; more generally, a substance comminuted or triturated to fine particles. Thus dust is the powder of earth; flour is the powder of grain. But the word is particularly applied to substances reduced to fine particles for medicinal purposes.

2. A composition of saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal, mixed and granulated; gun-powder.

3. Hair powder; pulverized starch.

POW'DER, verb transitive To reduce to fine particles; to comminute; to pulverize; to triturate; to pound, grind or rub into fine particles.

1. To sprinkle with powder; as, to powder the hair.

2. To sprinkle with salt; to corn; as meat.

POW'DER, verb intransitive To come violently. [Not in use.]

POW'DERED, participle passive Reduced to powder; sprinkled with powder; corned; salted.

POW'DERING, participle present tense Pulverizing; sprinkling with powder; corning; salting.

POW'DERY, adjective Friable; easily crumbling to pieces.

1. Dusty; sprinkled with powder.

2. Resembling powder.

POW'DIKE, noun A marsh or fen dike. [Local.]

POW'ER, noun [The Latin has posse, possum, potes, potentia. The primary sense of the verb is to strain, to exert force.]

1. In a philosophical sense, the faculty of doing or performing any thing; the faculty of moving or of producing a change in something; ability or strength. A man raises his hand by his own power or by power moves another body. The exertion of power proceeds from the will, and in strictness, no being destitute of will or intelligence, can exert power power in man is active or speculative. Active power is that which moves the body; speculative power is that by which we see, judge, remember, or in general, by which we think.

Power may exist without exertion. We have power to speak when we are silent.

Power has been distinguished also into active and passive, the power of doing or moving, and the power of receiving impressions or of suffering. In strictness, passive power is an absurdity in terms. To say that gold has a power to be melted, is improper language, yet for want of a more appropriate word, power is often used in a passive sense, and is considered as two-fold; viz.as able to make or able to receive any change.

2. Force; animal strength; as the power of the arm, exerted in lifting, throwing or holding.

3. Force; strength; energy; as the power of the mind, of the imagination, of the fancy. He has not powers of genius adequate to the work.

4. Faculty of the mind, as manifested by a particular mode of operation; as the power of thinking, comparing and judging; the reasoning powers.

5. Ability, natural or moral. We say, a man has the power of doing good; his property gives him the power of relieving the distressed; or he has the power to persuade others to do good; or it is not in his power to pay his debts. The moral power of man is also his power of judging or discerning in moral subjects.

6. In mechanics, that which produces motion or force, or which may be applied to produce it. Thus the inclined plane is called a mechanical power as it produces motion, although this in reality depends on gravity. The wheel and axle, and the lever, are mechanical powers, as they may be applied to produce force. These powers are also called forces, and they are of two kinds, moving power and sustaining power

7. Force. The great power of the screw is of extensive use in compression. The power of steam is immense.

8. That quality in any natural body which produces a change or makes an impression on another body; as the power of medicine; the power of heat; the power of sound.

9. Force; strength; momentum; as the power of the wind, which propels a ship or overturns a building.

10. Influence; that which may move the mind; as the power of arguments or of persuasion.

11. Command; the right of governing, or actual government; dominion; rule, sway; authority. A large portion of Asia is under the power of the Russian emperor. The power of the British monarch is limited by law. The powers of government are legislative, executive, judicial, and ministerial.

Power is no blessing in itself, but when it is employed to protect the innocent.

Under this sense may be comprehended civil, political, ecclesiastical, and military power

12. A sovereign, whether emperor, king or governing prince or the legislature of a state; as the powers of Europe; the great powers; the smaller powers. In this sense, the state or nation governed seems to be included in the word power Great Britain is a great naval power

13. One invested with authority; a ruler; a civil magistrate. Romans 13:1.

14. Divinity; a celestial or invisible being or agent supposed to have dominion over some part of creation; as celestial powers; the powers of darkness.

15. That which has physical power; an army; a navy; a host; a military force.

Never such a power--

Was levied in the body of a land.

16. Legal authority; warrant; as a power of attorney; an agent invested with ample power The envoy has full powers to negotiate a treaty.

17. In arithmetic and algebra, the product arising from the multiplication of a number or quantity into itself; as, a cube is the third power; the biquadrate is the fourth power

18. In Scripture, right; privilege. John 1:12. 1 Corinthians 9:4.

19. Angels, good or bad. Colossians 1:11. Ephesians 6:10.

20. Violence, force; compulsion. Ezekiel 4:1.

21. Christ is called the power of God, as through him and his gospel, God displays his power and authority in ransoming and saving sinners. 1 Corinthians 1:18.

22. The powers of heaven may denote the celestial luminaries. Matthew 24:30.

23. Satan is said to have the power of death, as he introduced sin, the cause of death, temporal and eternal, and torments men with the feat of death and future misery.

24. In vulgar language, a large quantity; a great number; as a power of good things. [This is, I believe, obsolete, even among our common people.]

Power of attorney, authority given to a person to act for another.

POW'ERFUL, adjective Having great physical or mechanical power; strong; forcible; mighty; as a powerful army or navy; a powerful engine.

1. Having great moral power; forcible to persuade or convince the mind; as a powerful reason or argument.

2. Possessing great political and military power; strong in extent of dominion or national resources; potent; as a powerful monarch or prince; a powerful nation.

3. Efficacious; possessing or exerting great force or producing great effects; as a powerful medicine.

4. In general, able to produce great effects; exerting great force or energy; as a powerful eloquence.

The word of God is quick and powerful Hebrews 4:12.

5. Strong; intense; as a powerful heat or light.

POW'ERFULLY, adverb With great force or energy; potently; mightily; with great effect; forcibly; either in a physical or moral sense. Certain medicines operate powerfully on the stomach; the practice of virtue is powerfully recommended by its utility.

POW'ERFULNESS, noun The quality of having or exerting great power; force; power; might.

POW'ERLESS, adjective Destitute of power, force or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect.

POWL'DRON, noun In heraldry, that part of armor which covers the shoulders.

POW'TER

POX, noun Strictly, pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases, the small pox, chicken pox, the vaccine and the venereal diseases. Pox, when used without an epithet, signifies the latter, lues venerea.

POX, n. Strictly, pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases, the small pox, chicken pox, the vaccine and the venereal diseases. Pox, when used without an epithet, signifies the latter, lues venerea.

POY, noun A rope dancer's pole.

POZE, for pose, to puzzle. [See Pose.]