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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. Phy'to-lăc'ce'a, n.p. 983(Bot.) A genus of plants from the fruit of which a red color resembling lac is obtained. Loudon.
  2. Phy'to-līte, n.p. 983A plant petrified, or fossil vegetable.
  3. Phy'to-lī-thōl'o-ğist, n.p. 983One versed in phytolithology.
  4. Phy'to-lī-thōl'o-gy, n.p. 983The branch of science which treats of fossil plants.
  5. Phy'to-lōğ'ie-al, a.p. 983Pertaining to phytology; botanical.
  6. Phy-tōl'o-gĭst, n.p. 983One skilled in phytology; a botanist.
  7. Phy-tŏl'o-gy, n.p. 983A discourse or treatise on plants, or the science of plants; description of the kinds and properties of plants; botany.
  8. Phy'ton, n.p. 983(Bot.) A single developed plant, plant-bud or plant individual in a tree;—the tree being regarded as a compound individual made up of many phytons. Gray.
  9. Phy-tōn'o-my or Phy-tōn'y-my, n.p. 983The science of the origin and growth of plants.
  10. Phy'to-pa-thŏl'o-gy, n.p. 983An account of diseases to which plants are liable.
  11. Phy-tŏph'a-gōus, a.p. 983Eating, or subsisting on, plants.
  12. Phy-tōt'o-mist, n.p. 983One versed in phytotomy.
  13. Phȳ-tōt'o-my, n.p. 984The dissection of plants.
  14. Phȳ'to-zō'on or Phȳ'tōz'o-on, n.p. 984A plant-animal;—a term sometimes applied to zoophytes; also to certain marine animalcules living in the tissues of plants. Dana.
  15. Phȳz, n.p. 984The same as PHIZ.
  16. Pī, n.p. 984(Print.) A mass of types confusedly mixed, or unsorted. [Written also pie.]
  17. Pī-ä'ba, n.p. 984(Ichth.) A small, fresh-water fish of Brazil, about the size of the minnow, much esteemed for food.
  18. Pi-ăs'a-ba, n.p. 984See PIASSAVA.
  19. Pi'a-cle, n.p. 984An enormous crime which requires expiation. [Rare.] Howell.
  20. Pī-ăc'ū-lar, a.p. 984Expiatory; having power to atone. 2. Requiring expiation; criminal; atrociously bad. “To cleanse his little Warwickshire fold from its piacular pollution.” De Quincey.
  21. Pī-ăc′ū-lăr′i-ty, n.p. 984The state or quality of being piacular; criminality; badness. De Quincey.
  22. Plăc'ū-lous, a.p. 984The same as PLACULAR.
  23. Pī'a Mā'terp. 984(Anat.) The vascular membrane immediately investing the brain.
  24. Pi'a-nĕt', n.p. 984The magpie. 2. A bird, the lesser woodpecker. [Obs.] Bailey.
  25. Pĭ'a-nĭs'sĭ-mo, a.p. 984(Mus.) Very soft;— a direction to the performer to execute the passage to which it refers in the softest manner.
  26. Pi-ä'nist, n.p. 984A performer on the piano-forte, or one well skilled in it. Busby.
  27. Pï-ä'no, a.p. 984(Mus.) Soft;—a direction to the performer to execute the passage to which it refers softly and with diminished volume of tone.
  28. Pī-ä'no or Pī-ä'no-fōr'te, n.p. 984(Mus.) A musical instrument resembling a harpsichord, and consisting of a series of wires of graduated length, thickness, and tension, struck by hammers which are moved by keys.
  29. Pī-ăn'o-grāph, n.p. 984(Mus.) A machine, which, attached to a piano-forte, transcribes, on paper prepared for the purpose, any thing played by the pianist.
  30. Pi'a-rist, n.p. 984(Eccl. Hist.) One of a religious order which arose in the seventeenth century at Rome, and who bound themselves by a special vow to devote themselves to education. Brande.
  31. Pi-ăs'a-bă, n.p. 984See PIASSAVA.
  32. Pi-ăs'sa-vă, n.p. 984A fibrous product of the palm-tree (Attalea funifera), imported from Brazil. The fibers are derived from the base of the leaf-stalks, and are used in making brooms, and for various other purposes.…
  33. Pĭ-ăs'ter, n.p. 984An Italian coin of about 80 cents value, or 3s. 7d. sterling. But the value is different in different states or countries. The Spanish piaster is the same as the Spanish or American dollar. The…
  34. Pī-ā'tion, n.p. 984The act of making atonement; expiation. [Obs.]
  35. Pl-äz'zä, n.p. 984(Arch.) A portico or covered walk, supported by arches or columns. 2. A square open space surrounded by buildings. [Italy.] Guilt.
  36. Pīb'-cŏrn, n.p. 984A wind instrument or pipe, with a horn at each end, used in Wales.
  37. Pi'broch, n.p. 984A wild, irregular species of music, peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and adapted to excite or assuage passion, and particularly to rouse a martial spirit among…
  38. Pi'cĕa, n.p. 984(Ornith.) The magpie. 2. (Med.) A vitiated appetite which makes the patient crave what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, &c. 3. (Rom. Cath. Church.) An ordinary, a table, or directory for…
  39. Pic'a-dōr', n.p. 984A horseman armed with a lance, who commences the exercises of a bull-fight by attacking the animal, without attempting to kill him.
  40. Pie'a-mār', n.p. 984(Chem.) The bitter principle of pitch, an oil-like, transparent fluid.
  41. **Pi'card**, n.p. 984(Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect which arose in the fifteenth century, the members of which held doctrines similar to those of the Adamites;—so called from Picard, a native of Flanders. See ADAMITES.
  42. Pic'a-rōon', n.p. 984One who pickeers; especially, a plunderer of wrecks; a pirate; a corsair. In all wars, Corsica and Majorca have been nests of picaroons. Sir W. Temple.
  43. Pie'a-yune', n.p. 984A small coin of the value of 6¼ cents.
  44. Pie'e-a-dil or Pie'e-a-dil'ly, n.p. 984[O. Fr. piccadilles, the several divisions or pieces fastened together about the brim of the collar of a doublet. (Cotgrave.) 1. A high collar, or a kind of ruff. Wilson. 2. A certain street in…
  45. Pie'cage, n.p. 984(O. Eng. Law.) Money paid at fairs for breaking ground for booths. Ainsworth.
  46. Pic'ca-lil'li, n.p. 984An East Indian pickle of various vegetables with pungent spices. Simmonds.
  47. Pi'c-co-lo, n.p. 984(Mus.) A small flute, the pitch of which is an octave higher than that of the ordinary flute; an octave flute.
  48. Pīçe, n.p. 984A small copper coin in the East Indies, worth less than a cent. Malcolm.
  49. Pic'e-ous, a.p. 984Of, or belonging to, pitch; black as pitch.
  50. Pich'ū-run Beanp. 984One of the isolated lobes of the drupe of a species of laurus growing in South America;—called also sassafras nut.
  51. Piç'i-dæ, n. pl.p. 984(Ornith.) [Lat. picus, woodpecker.] A family of scansorial birds, including the woodpecker.
  52. Pick, v. t.p. 984To peck at, like birds with their bills; to strike at with any thing pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument, so as to pierce, as an apple with a pin; to open, as a lock; to separate, as wool…
  53. Pick, v. i.p. 984To eat slowly or by morsels; to nibble. 2. To do any thing nicely, or by attending to small things. 3. To steal; to pilfer.
  54. Pick, n.p. 984A sharp-pointed tool; — often used in composition; as, a tooth-pick; a pick-lock; a pickax; a pickwick. 2. (Mining & Mech.) An iron tool tapering to a point from a heavy mass or head, in which is…
  55. Pick'a-nin'ny, n.p. 984A small child; especially, a negro or mulatto infant. [Southern U. S.] Bartlett.
  56. Pick'a-păck', adv.p. 984In manner of a pack. [Vulgar.] L'Estrange.
  57. Pick'ar-dil, n.p. 984The same as PICCADILLY. [Obs.]
  58. Pĭck'ăx or Pĭck'ăxe, n.p. 984A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the middle; a hammer with a pointed end for piercing as it strikes; a pick.
  59. Pĭck'băck, a.p. 984On the back. Hudibras.
  60. Pĭck'ed, a.p. 984Pointed; sharp. “Picked and polished.” Chapman. Let the stake be made picked at the top. Mortimer. 2. Sprucely or foppishly dressed. [Obs.] Picked out (pĭkt), ornamented or relieved with stripes of a…