Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Pēt'i·ōled, a. p. 977(Bot.) Having a petiole.Pĕt'i-ōl'ū-late, a. p. 977(Bot.) Raised upon, or supported by, its own stalk or petiolule. Gray.Pĕt'i-o-lūle, n. p. 977(Bot.) A small petiole.Pēt'it, a. p. 977Small; little; mean;—same as PETTY. [Obs., except in legal language.] And stammering age, to petit lads, In corners all will read thee. Drant. By what small, petit hints does the mind catch hold of…Pe-tĭ'tion, n. p. 977A prayer; a begging; a request; an entreaty, especially of a formal kind; as, (a.) A prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, influence, or authority, or a single clause…Pe-tĭ'tion, v. t. p. 977To make a request to; to ask from; to solicit; especially, to make supplication to for some favor or right; as, to petition the legislature; to petition a court of chancery. The mother petitioned her…Pe-tĭ'tion-a-ri-ly, adv. p. 977By way of begging the question. [Rare.] Browne.Pe-tĭ'tion-a-ry, a. p. 977Supplicatory; coming with a petition. Pardon thy petitionary countrymen. Shak. 2. Containing a petition or request; as, a petitionary prayer; a petitionary epistle.Pe-ti'tion-ee', n. p. 977A person cited to defend against a petition.Pe-ti'tion-er, n. p. 977One who presents a petition.Pe-ti'tion-ing, n. p. 977The act of asking or soliciting; solicitation; supplication; as, tumultuous petitioning is made penal by statute.Petit-maître, n. p. 977A spruce fellow that dangles about females; a fop; a coxcomb. Addison.Pĕt'i-tor, n. p. 977One who seeks; a searcher; an asker. [Obs.] I can not say competitor, the bishop himself being never a petitor for the place. Fuller.Pĕt'i-to-ry, a. p. 977Petitioning; soliciting; begging. An hypothesis is probable . . . in proportion as it involves nothing petitory, occult, supernatural. Sir W. Hamilton.Petitory p. 977suit or action (Admiralty Law), a suit in which the mere title to property is litigated and sought to be enforced, as distinguished from a possessory suit: also (Scots Law), a suit wherein the…Pe-tŏng', n. p. 977The Chinese white copper, an alloy of copper and nickel.Pe-trā'ry, n. p. 977A machine used by the ancients for throwing stones.Pē'tre, n. p. 977See SALTPETER.Pe-trē'an, a. p. 977Pertaining to rock or stone. Faber.Pĕt'rel, n. p. 977(Ornith.) A long-winged, web-footed sea-fowl, of the Linnæan genus Procellaria. The arctic petrel is P. glacialis. The stormy petrel is P. pelagica of Linnæus;—called also Mother Carey’s chicken.Pĕt'rel, n. p. 977The same as POITREL. [Obs.]Pe-trĕs'cence, n. p. 977The process of changing into stone; the state of being petrescent.Pe-trĕs'cent, a. p. 977Converting into stone; changing into stony hardness. Boyle.Pĕt'ri-făc'tion, n. p. 977The process of changing into stone; the conversion of any organic matter (animal or vegetable) into stone. When the water in which wood is lodged is slightly impregnated with petrescent particles…Pĕt'ri-făc'tive, a. p. 977Having power to convert vegetable or animal substances into stone. 2. Pertaining to petrifaction.Pe-trif'ic, a. p. 977Having power to convert into stone. Death with his mace petrific, Cold and dry. Milton. The cold, dry, petrific mace of a false and unfeeling philosophy. Burke. Death, and through his own orders, had…Pēt'ri-fi-cāte, v. t. p. 977To petrify. [Rare.] Bp. Hall.Pĕt'ri-fi-cā'tion, n. p. 977The same as PETRIFACTION. 2. Obduracy. Halliwell.Pĕt'ri-fy, v. t. p. 977To convert to stone or stony substance, as an animal or vegetable substance. North of Quito there is a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. Kirwan. 2. To fix; to make callous or obdurate…Pĕt'ri-fī, v. i. p. 977To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as animal or vegetable substances by means of calcareous or other depositions in their cavities.Pē'trine, a. p. 977Of, or relating to, Peter; as, the Petrine Epistles.Pĕt'ro-grāph'ie or Pĕt'ro-grāph'ie-al, a. p. 977Of, or pertaining to, petrography.Pe-trōg'ra-phy, n. p. 977The description of rocks. Dana. 2. Writing on stone.Pe-trōl', n. p. 977Petroleum. [Rare.]Pe-trō'le-ūm, n. p. 977Rock oil, a liquid, inflammable, bituminous substance exuding from the earth and collected on the surface of the water in wells and fountains, in various parts of the world, or oozing from cavities…Pĕt'ro-līne, n. p. 977(Chem.) A substance obtained by distilling the petroleum of Rangoon. Brande.Pe-trōl'o-gy, n. p. 977A treatise on the subject of rocks.Pē'tro-nel, n. p. 977A kind of carabine or large horseman's pistol.Pĕt'ro-sal, a. p. 977Having the hardness of stone; relating to the petrous portion of the temporal bone. Dunglison.Pĕt'ro-sal, n. p. 977The ear-capsule bone in a fish. Dana.Pēt'ro-se-lī'num, n. p. 977(Bot.) A genus of umbelliferous plants, of which one species (P. sativum, the common parsley) grows wild on rocks and old walls, and is extensively cultivated, being highly valued as a culinary herb.…Pĕt'ro-sī'lex or Pē'tro-sī'lex, n. p. 977(Min.) Rock stone; rock flint, or compact feldspar.Pĕt'ro-sī-lĭ'ciōŭs, a. p. 977Consisting of, or containing, petrosilex; as, petrosilicious breccias. Kirwan.Pē'troŭs, a. p. 977Like stone; hard; stony. Hooper. 2. (Anal.) Of, or pertaining to, the portion of the temporal bone in which the internal organs of hearing are situated.Pĕt'ted-ly, adv. p. 977Pettishly.Pĕt'ti-cōat, n. p. 977A loose under garment worn by females, and covering the lower limbs. 2. The outer space or surface of a target. [Eng.] Petticoat pipe (Mach.), one of a series of short, conical pipes, in a smoke-box…Pĕt'ti-cōat'ed, a. p. 977Wearing a petticoat.Pĕt'ti-fŏg, v. i. p. 977To do small business, as a lawyer. [Colloq.]Pĕt'ti-fŏg'ger, n. p. 977A lawyer who deals in petty cases; an inferior attorney employed in mean professional business. A pettifogger was lord chancellor. Macaulay.Pĕt'ti-fŏg'ger-y, n. p. 977The practice, or the acts, of a pettifogger; disreputable tricks; quibbles.Pĕt'ti-fŏg'ū-līze, v. i. p. 977To employ petty and contemptible means. To pettifogulize, that is, to find evasions for any purpose in a trickster's minute tortuosities of construction. De Quincey.Pĕt'ti-ly, adv. p. 977In a petty manner; frivolously.Pĕt'ti-ness, n. p. 977The state of being pettish; smallness; littleness.Pĕt'tish, a. p. 977Evincing, or pertaining to, a pet; fretful; peevish; subject to freaks of ill temper. My father, . . . came down into the country with my mother in but a pettish kind of humor. Sterne.Pĕt'tish-ly, adv. p. 977In a pet; with a freak of ill temper.Pĕt'tish-ness, n. p. 977The state of being pettish; fretfulness; petulance; peevishness.Pĕt'ti-tōes, n. pl. p. 977The toes or feet of a pig, often used as food;—sometimes used for the human feet, humorously or in contempt. Shak.Pēt'to, n. p. 977The breast. In petto, in secrecy; in reserve.Pĕt'ty, a. p. 978Small; little; trifling; inconsiderable; as, a petty trespass; a petty crime. 2. Inferior; as, a petty prince. Like a petty god I walked about admired. Milton. For petty constable, petty jury, petty…Pēt'ty-chaps, n. p. 978(Ornith.) A small singing bird (Curruca hortensis), called also golden warbler. It is found in various parts of Europe.