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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'i-pa-tĕt'i-çism, n.p. 971The notions, or philosophical system, of Aristotle and his followers.
  2. Pĕr'i-pĕt'al-oŭs, a.p. 971(Bot.) Surrounding or situated about the corolla;—said of nectaries. Henslow.
  3. Pe-rĭph'er-al or Pĕr'i-phĕr'ic or Pĕr'i-phĕr'ic-al, a.p. 971See PERIPHERY. 1. Pertaining to a periphery; constituting a periphery. 2. External; around the outside of an organ, whether the surface or its appendages; as, the peripheral processes or elements of…
  4. Pe-rĭph'er-y, n.p. 971The circumference of a circle, ellipse, or other regular curvilinear figure. Brande.
  5. Pĕr'ĭ-phrāse, n.p. 971(Rhet.) The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a figure employed to avoid a common and trite manner of expression; circumlocution; a circuit of words. Cassandra is made to…
  6. Pĕr'i-phrāse, v. t.p. 971To express by circumlocution.
  7. Pē·ri·phrāşe, v. i.p. 971To use circumlocution.
  8. Pe-rip'hrā-sĭs, n.p. 971The same as PERIPHRASE.
  9. Pĕr'i-phrās'tic or Pĕr'i-phrās'tic-al, a.p. 971Expressing or expressed in more words than are necessary; expressing the sense of one word in many; circumlocutory.
  10. Pĕr/i-phrās'tic-al-ly, adv.p. 971In a periphrastical manner; with circumlocution.
  11. Pēʹrĭ-plūs, n.p. 971A voyage round a certain sea or sea-coast; circumnavigation. [Rare.] Vincent.
  12. Pĕr′ip-neū-mŏn′ic, a.p. 971(Med.) Pertaining to peripneumony.
  13. Pĕr’ip-neū’mo-ny, n.p. 971(Med.) An inflammation of the lungs; pneumonitis.
  14. Pĕr'i-po-lȳg'o-nal, a.p. 971(Crystallog.) Having a great number of sides or angles.
  15. Pe-rip'ter-al, a.p. 971Having a range of columns all around;—said of an edifice.
  16. Pe·rip'tēre, n.p. 971The same as PERIPTERY.
  17. Pe-rip'ter-ōus, a.p. 971Feathered on all sides.
  18. Pe-rip'ter-y, n.p. 971(Arch.) An edifice or temple environed, on its exterior circumference, by a range of insulated columns, distant from the wall to the extent of the intercolumniation. Elmes.
  19. Pe-ris'cian, n.p. 971An inhabitant within a polar circle, whose shadow, during some portion of the summer, must, in the course of the day, move entirely round, and fall toward every point of the compass;—a term of the…
  20. Pe-ris'cian, a.p. 971Having the shadow moving all around.
  21. Pĕ-rĭs'ci-ī, n. pl.p. 971The periscians. See PERISCIAN.
  22. Pĕr'i-scōpe, n.p. 971A general view.
  23. Pēr'i-seōp'ic, a.p. 971Viewing on all sides. Periscopic spectacles, spectacles having concavo-convex glasses, for the purpose of increasing the distinctness of objects when viewed obliquely.
  24. Pēr'ish, v. i.p. 971To be destroyed; to go to destruction; to pass away; to come to nothing; to be blotted from existence; to be ruined; to be lost. Duration, and time, which is a part of it, is the idea we have of…
  25. Pĕr'ish, v. t.p. 971To cause to decay; to destroy.
  26. Pĕr'ish-a-bĭl'i-ty, n.p. 971Perishableness.
  27. Pēr'ish-a-ble, a.p. 971Liable to perish; subject to decay and destruction. Property of a perishable nature, saved from a wreck, may be sold within a year and a day. Stat. of Conn.
  28. Pĕr'ish-a-ble-ness, n.p. 971Liableness to decay or destruction. Locke.
  29. Pēr'ish-a-bly, adv.p. 971In a perishing manner.
  30. Pēr'ish-ment, n.p. 971The act of perishing or decaying; decay; ruin. [Obs.]
  31. Pĕr'i-spĕrm, n.p. 971(Bot.) The albumen of a seed. Gray.
  32. Pĕr'i-sphĕr'ie or Pĕr'i-sphĕr'ie-al, a.p. 971Having the form of a ball; globular.
  33. Pĕr'is-so-lŏg'ic-al, a.p. 971Redundant in words. [Rare.]
  34. Pĕr'is-sŏl'o-gy, n.p. 971Superfluous words; much talk to little purpose. [Rare.] Campbell.
  35. Pĕr/i-stăl'tic, a.p. 971(Anat.) Contracting in successive circles;—a term applied to the vermicular motion of the alimentary canal, and similar structures, by which their contents are forced onward. It consists in the…
  36. Pĕr'is-tē'ri-on, n.p. 971The herb vervain.
  37. Pe-rĭs'te-rīte, n.p. 971(Min.) A variety of feldspar containing a small proportion of magnesia. Dana.
  38. Pēr'i-stōme, n.p. 971(Bot.) The fringe of teeth around the orifice of the capsule of mosses. Gray.
  39. Pēr'i-stō'mi-ūm, n.p. 971The same as PERISTOME.
  40. Pēr'i-strēph'ie, a.p. 971Turning round, or rotatory; revolving.
  41. Pĕr'i-stȳle, n.p. 971(Arch.) A range of columns round a building or square, or a building encompassed with a row of columns on the outside. Guilt.
  42. Pĕr'i-sys'to-le, n.p. 971(Med.) The pause or interval between the systole or contraction, and the diastole or dilatation, of the heart.
  43. Pe-rīte', a.p. 971Skilled; skillful. [Obs.] Whitaker.
  44. Pĕr'i-thē'ci-ūm, n.p. 971(Bot.) An organ in certain fungi and lichens, surrounding and enveloping the masses of fructification. Henslow.
  45. Pe-rit'o-moûs, a.p. 971(Min.) Cleaving in more directions than one parallel to the axis, the faces being all of one quality.
  46. Pĕr'i-to-nē'al, a.p. 971Pertaining to the peritoneum.
  47. Pĕr′-i-to-nē′um, n.p. 971(Anat.) A thin, smooth, serous membrane, investing the whole internal surface of the abdomen, and more or less completely all the viscera contained in it, and of which it forms the surface.
  48. Pēr'i-trō'chi-ūm, n.p. 971(Mech.) The wheel and axle; axis in peritrochio. See AXIS.
  49. Pĕr'-i-trō'pal, a.p. 971Rotatory; circuitous. 2. (Bot.) Having the axis of the seed perpendicular to the axis of the pericarp to which it is attached.
  50. Pĕr'ĭ-vĭs'cer-al, a.p. 971Around the viscera; as, the perivisceral cavity.
  51. Pĕr'-i-wig, n.p. 971A small wig; a kind of close cap formed by an intertexture of false hair, worn by men for ornament or to conceal baldness; a peruke; a scratch.
  52. Pĕr'i-wĭg, v. t.p. 971To dress with a periwig, or with false hair. Swift.
  53. Pér'-i-wĭnk, n.p. 971A periwinkle. [Obs.]
  54. Per'i-winkle, n.p. 971(Zoöl.) A gasteropodous mollusk, having a turbinated shell; Littorina littorea. Baird. 2. [O. Eng. perwinkle, parvenke, Fr. pervenche, It. & Lat. pervinca, A-S. pervince, pinevincle.] (Bot.) A…
  55. Pĕr'jure, v. t.p. 971To render guilty of perjury; to cause to swear before a court of justice to what one knows to be untrue, or does not know to be true; to forswear; — used reflexively; as, to perjure one's self. 2. To…
  56. Pĕr'jure, n.p. 971A perjured person. [Obs.] Shak.
  57. Pĕr'jured, a.p. 971Guilty of perjury; having sworn falsely; being sworn falsely. “Their perjured oath.” Spenser. “These perjured beings.” “I mean, in perjured witness.” Shak.
  58. Pĕr'jur-er, n.p. 971One who willfully takes a false oath lawfully administered.
  59. Per-jū'ri-oŭs or Per'ju-rōus, a.p. 971Guilty of perjury; containing perjury.
  60. Pér'ju-ry, n.p. 971False swearing; the act or crime of willfully making a false oath, when lawfully administered; or the crime committed when a lawful oath is administered, in some judicial proceeding, to a person who…