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An American Dictionary of the English Language

by Noah Webster

Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)

Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865

Entries
95,912
Pages
1,538
Illustrations
2,133

Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.

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  1. Pĕr'fect-er or Per-fĕct'er, n.p. 969One who makes perfect. Broome.
  2. Per-fĕct/i-bĭl'i-an, n.p. 969One who holds to perfectibility. Ed. Rev.
  3. Per-fĕct/i-bĭl/i-ty, n.p. 969The quality of being perfectible.
  4. Per-féct'i-ble, a.p. 969Capable of becoming or being made perfect, or of arriving at the utmost perfection of the species.
  5. Per-fĕc'tion, n.p. 969The state of being perfect or complete, so that nothing requisite is wanting; completed culture, skill, or moral excellence; full possession of any thing desirable; perfectness; as, perfection in an…
  6. Per-fĕc'tion, v. t.p. 969To complete; to make perfect. [Obs.]
  7. Per-fĕc'tion-al, a.p. 969Pertaining to perfection. 2. Made complete; perfected. [Obs.] Pearson.
  8. Per-fĕc'tion-āte, v. t.p. 969To make perfect; to perfect. [Rare.] Dryden.
  9. Per-fĕc'tion-ā'tion, n.p. 969The act of perfecting or making perfect.
  10. Per-fĕc'tion-ism, n.p. 969The doctrine of the Perfectionists.
  11. Per-fé’tion-ist, n.p. 969One pretending to have attained to moral perfection; one who believes that some persons actually attain to moral perfection in the present life.
  12. Per-féction-ment, n.p. 969The act of perfecting or making perfect, or the state of being perfect. I. Taylor.
  13. Per-fĕct'ive, a.p. 969Calculated or tending to perfect; conducing to make perfect or bring to perfection; — usually followed by of. “If England, in our memory, hath been sensible of a perfective alteration in her…
  14. Per-fĕct'ive-ly, adv.p. 969In a perfective manner.
  15. Pĕr'fect-ly, adv.p. 969In a perfect manner or degree; to perfection; completely; totally; exactly; accurately. “How perfectly I love her.” Shak. “Sincerely good and perfectly divine.” Milton.
  16. Pĕr'fect-ness, n.p. 969The state or quality of being perfect; perfection; completeness; consummate excellence; fullness; completion. And, above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Col. iii.…
  17. Per-fĭ'çient, a.p. 969Efficient; effectual. [Rare.]
  18. Per-fĭ'çient, n.p. 969One who performs a work; especially, one who endows a charity.
  19. Per-fĭd'i-oŭs, a.p. 969Guilty of, or involving, perfidy; violating good faith or vows; false to trust or confidence reposed; treacherous; faithless; false; dishonest; as, a perfidious agent; a perfidious friend. “A most…
  20. Per-fīd'i-oüs-ly, adv.p. 969In a perfidious manner; treacherously; by breach of faith or allegiance.
  21. Per-fĭd'i-ōŭs-ness, n.p. 969The quality of being perfidious; treachery; traitorousness; breach of faith, vows, or allegiance.
  22. Pĕr'fi-dy, n.p. 969The act of violating faith, a promise, vow, or allegiance; faithlessness; treachery; the violation of a trust reposed. “Such was his perfidy to this sacred engagement.” De Quincey.
  23. Per-fix', v. t.p. 969To fix; to settle; to agree upon. [Obs. and rare.] Take heed, as you are gentlemen, this quarrel Sleep till the hour perfixed. Beau. & Fl.
  24. Pēr'fla-ble, a.p. 969Capable of being blown through. [Obs.]
  25. Per-flāte', v. t.p. 969To blow through. [Obs.] Harvey.
  26. Per-flā'tion, n.p. 969The act of perflating, or blowing through. [Obs.] Woodward.
  27. Per-fō'li-ate, a.p. 969(Bot.) Surrounding the stem at the base; as, a perfoliate leaf.
  28. Pĕr'fo-rāte, v. t.p. 969To bore through; to pierce with a pointed instrument; to penetrate; to make a hole or holes through by boring or driving.
  29. Pĕr'fo-rate or Pĕr'fo-rā'ted, a.p. 969(Bot.) Pierced with holes, or having transparent dots resembling holes.
  30. Pĕr'fo-rā'tion, n.p. 969The act of perforating, or of boring or piercing through. 2. A hole or aperture passing through any thing, or into the interior of a substance.
  31. Pĕr'fo-ra-tive, a.p. 969Having power to perforate or pierce.
  32. Pêr'fo-rā'tor, n.p. 969An instrument that bores or perforates.
  33. Per-fōrçe', adv.p. 969By force or violence; violently; of necessity; absolutely. Bring him on perforce To speak to their affliction. Akenside.
  34. Per-fōrçe', v. t.p. 969To force; to compel. [Obs.]
  35. Per-fōrm', v. t.p. 969To carry through; to bring to completion; to achieve; to accomplish; to execute; to do. What in an age they with incessant toil And hands innumerable scarce perform. Milton. 2. To execute; to…
  36. Per-fôrm', v. i.p. 969To act a part; to acquit one's self in any work; especially, to play upon a musical instrument, to go through with a public part, as in a drama, pantomime, or other exhibition of skill and capacity…
  37. Per-fōrm'a-ble, a.p. 969Admitting of being performed or done; capable of being executed or fulfilled; practicable.
  38. Per-fōrm'ance, n.p. 969The act of performing, or the condition of being performed; execution or completion of any thing; achievement; accomplishment; as, the performance of work or of an undertaking; the performance of…
  39. Per-fōrm'er, n.p. 969One who performs; an actor; especially, one who shows skill and training in an art, as music, the drama, &c.
  40. Pēr'fri-cāte, v. t.p. 969To rub over. [Obs.]
  41. Per-fū'ma-to-ry, a.p. 969Bestowing perfume or odor; perfuming. Leigh.
  42. Pêr'fūme or Per-fūme', n.p. 969The scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from sweet-smelling substances; fragrance; aroma. No rich perfumes refresh the fruitful field. Pope. 2. A substance that emits a scent or odor which…
  43. Per-fūme', v. t.p. 970To fill or impregnate with a grateful odor; to scent. And Carmel's flowery top perfumes the skies. Pope.
  44. Per-fūm'er, n.p. 970One who, or that which, perfumes. 2. One whose trade it is to sell perfumes. Bacon.
  45. Per-fūm'er-y, n.p. 970Perfumes in general. 2. The preparation of perfumes.
  46. Per-fūn'c-to-ri-ly, adv.p. 970In a perfunctory manner; in a manner to satisfy external form; carelessly; negligently.
  47. Per-fūnc'to-ri-ness, n.p. 970Negligent performance; carelessness. Whitlock.
  48. Per-fŭnk'to-ry, a.p. 970Done without interest or zeal, and merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; hence, indifferent; slight; careless; negligent. The medical profession, in the daily…
  49. Per-fūnct'ū-rāte, v. t.p. 970To perform in a perfunctory manner; to do mechanically or negligently.
  50. Per-fūse', v. t.p. 970To sprinkle, pour, or spread over. [Rare.] Harvey.
  51. Per-fū'sion, n.p. 970The act of perfusing; the act of pouring or sprinkling over.
  52. Per-fū'sive, a.p. 970Sprinkling; adapted to spread or sprinkle.
  53. Pĕr'ga-mē'ne-oŭs, a.p. 970Like parchment.
  54. Pĕr'ġe, v. i.p. 970To go; to proceed;—used chiefly in the imperative as an exclamation, go on! on!
  55. Pĕr'go-lȧ or Pĕr'gu-lȧ, n.p. 970Pĕr'gu-lȧ, n. [Lat.] (Anc. Arch.) A sort of gallery or balcony in a house. Some suppose it to be an arbor in a garden, or a terrace overhanging one. Brande. Near this is a pergola, or stand built to…
  56. Per-hăps', adv.p. 970By chance; it may be; peradventure; possibly. Perhaps her love, perhaps her kingdom, charmed him. Smith.
  57. Pĕr'ip. 970A prefix from the Greek περί, around, and used in many words derived from the Greek, and signifying with, around, about, near, and the like.
  58. Pē'ri, n.p. 970(Per. Myth.) An imaginary being of the female sex, like an elf or fairy, represented as a descendant of fallen angels, excluded from paradise till their penance is accomplished.
  59. Pĕr'i-ā'gūa, n.p. 970See PIROGUE.
  60. Pĕr'i-anth, n.p. 970(Bot.) (a.) That calyx which envelops only a single flower, and is immediately contiguous to it. (b.) The leaves of the flower generally, especially when the calyx and corolla are not readily…