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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. Pre-vă'ri-ēā'tor, n.p. 1034One who prevaricates; a shuffler; a quibbler. 2. (Civil Law.) A sham dealer; one who colludes with a defendant in a sham prosecution. 3. One who abuses his trust.
  2. Prēve, v. t.p. 1034To prove. [Obs.] Experience so preveth it every day. Chaucer.
  3. Pre-vēne', v. t.p. 1034To come before; to anticipate; hence, to hinder. [Obs.] Philips.
  4. Pre-vēn'i-ence, n.p. 1034The act of anticipating, or going before; anticipation. [Rare.]
  5. Pre-vēn'i-ent, a.p. 1034Going before; preceding. “Prevenient grace descending.” Milton. 2. Hence, preventive.
  6. Pre-vĕnt', v. t.p. 1034To go before; to precede. [Obs.] No man, therefore, can prevent the Spirit, in doing good. Pymdale. 2. To be beforehand with; to get the start of; to anticipate; to forestall. [Obs.] “Their ready…
  7. Pre-vēnt', v. i.p. 1034To come before the usual time. [Obs.] Bacon.
  8. Pre-vĕnt'a-bĭl'i-ty, n.p. 1035The quality of being preventable; capability of being prevented.
  9. Pre-vĕnt'a-ble, a.p. 1035Capable of being prevented or hindered. Reynolds.
  10. Pre-vĕnt'a-tive, n.p. 1035That which prevents;—incorrectly used instead of preventive, q. v.
  11. Pre-vĕnt’er, n.p. 1035One who goes before. [Obs.] 2. One who hinders; a hinderer; that which hinders; as, a preventer of evils or of disease. 3. (Naut.) An additional rope or spar, used as a support. Dana.
  12. Preventer-bolts or Preventer-platesp. 1035bolts driven at the lower end of the preventer-plates, to assist the strain of the chain-bolts.—Preventer-plates, plates of iron below the links of the chains. Weale.
  13. Pre-vĕnt'ing-ly, adv.p. 1035In such a manner or way as to hinder.
  14. Pre-vĕnʹtion, n.p. 1035The act of going before. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. Pre-occupation; anticipation. [Obs.] Hammond. 3. The act of hindering; hinderance; obstruction of access or approach. Prevention of sin is one of the…
  15. Pre-vĕn’tion-al, a.p. 1035Tending to prevent. [Obs.]
  16. Pre-vēnt’ive, a.p. 1035Tending to prevent; hindering the access of; as, a medicine preventive of disease. Browne. Preventive service, the duty performed by the armed police in guarding the coast against smuggling. [Eng.]
  17. Pre-vĕnt'ive, n.p. 1035That which prevents; that which intercepts access or approach. 2. (Med.) An antidote previously taken to prevent an attack of disease.
  18. Pre-vĕn'tive-ly, adv.p. 1035By way of prevention; in a manner that tends to hinder.
  19. Prē'vi-oŭs, a.p. 1035Going before in time; being or happening before something else; antecedent; prior; as, a previous intimation of a design; a previous event. Sound from the mountain, previous to the storm, Rolls o'er…
  20. Prē'vi-oŭs-ly, adv.p. 1035In time preceding; beforehand; antecedently; as, a plan previously formed.
  21. Prē'vi-oŭs-ness, n.p. 1035Antecedence; priority in time.
  22. Pre-vĭsē', v. t.p. 1035To foresee. [Rare.]
  23. Pre-vĭs'ion, n.p. 1035Foresight; foreknowledge; prescience.
  24. Pre-warn', v. t.p. 1035To warn beforehand; to give previous notice to; to forewarn.
  25. Prey, n.p. 1035Any thing, as goods, &c., taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and Eleazar the priest. Num. xxxi. 12. 2.…
  26. Prey, v. i.p. 1035To take booty; to collect spoil; to rapine; to take food by violence. More pity that the eagle should be mewed, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty. Shak. To prey on or upon. (a.) To take prey…
  27. Prey'er, n.p. 1035One who or that which preys; a plunderer; a waster; a devourer.
  28. Prey'ful, a.p. 1035Full of disposition to prey. [Obs.] “The preyful brood of savage beasts.” Chapman.
  29. Pri'al, n.p. 1035A corruption of pair-royal. See PAIR-ROYAL.
  30. Prĭ'a-pē'an, n.p. 1035(Lat. Pros.) A species of hexameter verse so constructed as to be divisible into two portions of three feet each, having generally a trochee in the first and fourth foot, and an amphimacer in the…
  31. Pri'a-pĭsm, n.p. 1035(Med.) More or less permanent erection and rigidity of the penis, without concupiscence.
  32. Price, n.p. 1035The sum or amount of money at which a thing is valued, or the value which a seller sets on his goods in market; that for which something is bought or sold, or offered for sale; equivalent in money or…
  33. Prīce, v. t.p. 1035To pay for. [Obs.] “With his own blood to price thy blood.” Spenser. 2. To set a price on. See PRIZE.
  34. Price'less, a.p. 1035Too valuable to admit of being prized or valued; of inestimable worth; invaluable. 2. Without value; worthless or unsalable. J. Barlow.
  35. Prick, v. t.p. 1035To pierce with a sharp-pointed instrument or substance; to make a puncture in; to drive a fine point into; as, to prick one with a pin, needle, or the like. 2. To fix by the point; to hang by…
  36. Prick, v. i.p. 1035To be pricked or punctured; to suffer or feel penetration by a point or sharp pain. 2. To spur onward; to ride forth on horseback. Before each van Prick forth the airy knights. Milton. 3. To become…
  37. Prick, n.p. 1035That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and slender thing; a pointed instrument, a goad, spur, or the like; a point; a skewer. “Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.” Shak. It…
  38. Prick, v. i.p. 1035To dress one's self for show: to deck one's self out; to prink. “They have much pricking.” Latimer.
  39. Prick'er, n.p. 1035That which pricks; a sharp point; a pointed instrument; a prickle. 2. One who pricks or spurs forward; a light horseman. The prickers, who rode foremost in the troop, halted. W. Scott. 3. A thin rod…
  40. Prĭck'et, n.p. 1035A buck in his second year. Manwood.
  41. Prick'ing, n.p. 1035The act of piercing with a sharp point. 2. (Far.) (a.) The driving of a nail into a horse’s foot so as to produce lameness. (b.) The same as NICKING. Gardner. 3. A sensation of sharp pain, or of…
  42. Prick'ing-ŭp, n.p. 1035(Arch.) The first coating of plaster, in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched over to form a better key for the next coat. Brande.
  43. Prĭck'le, n.p. 1035A little prick; a small sharp-pointed projection, as from the skin of an animal, the bark of a plant, or the like. 2. A sort of basket;—a term still technically used in some branches of the trade.…
  44. Prick'le, v. t.p. 1035To pierce with a prickle, or with fine, sharp points; to prick slightly. Felt a horror over me creep, Prickle my skin, and catch my breath. Tennyson.
  45. Prĭck'le-băck, n.p. 1035(Ichth.) A small fish, so named from the prickles on its back; the stickle-back.
  46. Prĭck'li-ness, n.p. 1035The state of being prickly, or of having many prickles.
  47. Prĭck'-louse, n.p. 1035A tailor;—so called in contempt. [Obs.] L'Estrange.
  48. Prĭck'ly, a.p. 1035Full of sharp points or prickles, armed with prickles; as, a prickly shrub.
  49. Prĭck'ly-ăsh, n.p. 1035(Bot.) A prickly shrub (Xanthoxylum Americanum), with yellowish flowers appearing with the leaves. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic. The southern species is X. Caroliniensis. Gray.
  50. Prĭck'ly-bull'hĕad, n.p. 1035(Ichth.) A fresh-water fish of the genus Cottus.
  51. Prĭck'ly-hēat, n.p. 1035(Med.) A non-contagious cutaneous eruption of red pimples, attended with intense itching and tingling of the parts affected. Wilson.
  52. Prick'ly-peâr, n.p. 1035(Bot.) A species of Cactus, especially the Cactus opuntia, a fleshy and succulent plant, destitute of leaves, covered with spines, and consisting of flattened joints inserted upon each other. It…
  53. Prick'mād-am, n.p. 1035A species of houseleek. Johnson.
  54. Prick'-pōst, n.p. 1035(Arch.) The same as QUEEN-POST. See QUEEN-POST. Gwilt.
  55. Prĭck'-pŭnch, n.p. 1035A piece of tempered steel with a conical point, to prick a mark on cold iron or other metal. Moxon.
  56. Prĭck'-shâft, n.p. 1035An arrow. “The brunt of many a prick-shaft shot.” Taylor.
  57. Prick'-sŏng, n.p. 1035Music written down;—sometimes more particularly, music in parts; so called from the points, or dots, with which it is noted down. When opposed to plain-song, it means counter-point. [Obs.] He fights…
  58. Prick'wôod, n.p. 1035(Bot.) A European shrub of the genus Euonymus, so named from the former use of the wood for skewers. London.
  59. Prick'y, a.p. 1035Stiff and sharp; prickly. Holland.
  60. Prīde, n.p. 1035The state or quality of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of…