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An American Dictionary of the English Language

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.

  1. Prin'ci-pal-ness, n.p. 1038The state of being principal or chief.
  2. Prin'ci·pate, n.p. 1038Principality; supreme rule. [Obs.] Barrow.
  3. Prin·cip'i·a, n. pl.p. 1038First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as, Newton's Principia.
  4. Prin·cip'i·al, a.p. 1038Initial; elementary. [Obs.]
  5. Prin-cip'i-ant, a.p. 1038Relating to principles or beginnings. [Rare.]
  6. Prin·cip'i·ā'tion, n.p. 1038Analysis into constituent or elemental parts. [Rare.] In a system of writing by sound, there must be a very accurate appreciation of sound, and a faultless principiation of language. A. M. Bell.
  7. Prin'ci-ple, n.p. 1038Beginning; commencement. [Obs. and rare.] “Doubting sad end of principle unsound.” Spenser. 2. Hence, a source, or origin; that from which any thing proceeds; fundamental substance or energy…
  8. Prin'ci-ple, v. t.p. 1038To establish or fix in tenets; to impress with any tenet, good or ill; — chiefly used in the participle. With goodness principled not to reject The penitent. Milton. 2. To establish firmly in the…
  9. Prin'cŏck or Prin'cŏx, n.p. 1038A coxcomb; a conceited person; a pert young rogue; — used humorously or in contempt. [Obs.] Shak.
  10. Prĭn'i-ă, n.p. 1038(Ornith.) A genus of birds found in Java.
  11. Prink, v. i.p. 1038To dress for show; to spend much time in arranging the dress in a foppish or finical manner; to prank. 2. To put on stately airs; to strut.
  12. Prĭnk, v. t.p. 1038To dress or adjust to ostentation.
  13. Prĭnk'er, n.p. 1038One who prinks; one who dresses with much care.
  14. Print, v. t.p. 1038To press or impress; to imprint. “And print on thy soft cheek a parent’s kiss.” Byron. 2. To take an impression of; to copy or take off the impress of; to stamp. “Perhaps some footsteps printed in…
  15. Print, v. i.p. 1038To use or practice the art of typography, or of taking impressions of letters, figures, and the like. 2. To publish a book. From the moment he prints, he must expect to hear no more of truth. Pope.
  16. Print, n.p. 1038A mark made by impression; a line, character, figure, or indentation, made by the pressure of one body or thing on another; mark; sign imparted or communicated, as, the print of the tooth or of the…
  17. Print'er, n.p. 1038One who prints, impresses, or stamps; especially, one who prints books, newspapers, and the like.
  18. Print'er-y, n.p. 1038A place where cloth is printed; print-works; also, sometimes, a printing-office. [Rare.] Pilkin. Bartlett.
  19. Print'ing, n.p. 1038The act, art, or practice of impressing letters, characters, or figures on paper, cloth, or other material; the business of a printer; typography. Letter-press printing (Typog.), that kind of…
  20. Print'ing-house, n.p. 1038A printing-office.
  21. Print'ing-ink, n.p. 1038Ink used in printing books, newspapers, and the like. It is composed of lamp-black mingled with linseed or nut oil, made thick by boiling and burning, by black rosin, soap, &c., or with balsam of…
  22. Print'ing-ma-chine', n.p. 1038A printing-press in which the work is performed by machinery, and not directly by hand.
  23. Print'ing-öf'fiçe, n.p. 1038A place where books, pamphlets, and the like, are printed.
  24. Printing-pā'per, n.p. 1038Paper to be used in the printing of books, pamphlets, and the like, as distinguished from writing-paper, press-paper, wrapping-paper, &c.
  25. Print'ing-press, n.p. 1038A press for printing books, newspapers, handbills, and the like.
  26. Print'less, a.p. 1038Leaving no print or impression. “Thus I set my print-less feet.” Milton.
  27. Print'-shōp, n.p. 1038A shop where prints are kept for sale.
  28. Print'-works, n.p. 1038A place, or establishment, where cloth is printed.
  29. Prī-ōn'ō-dōn, n.p. 1038(Zoöl.) A genus of quadrupeds related to the weasels.
  30. Pri'or, a.p. 1038Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; as, a prior discovery; prior obligation. Syn. — Antecedent; precedent; pre-eminent.
  31. Prī'or, n.p. 1038(Eccl.) The superior of a priory; one next in dignity to an abbot. Claustral prior. See CLAUSTRAL. — Conventical prior. See CONVENTICAL.
  32. Pri'or-ate, n.p. 1038Government by a prior. Warton.
  33. Pri'or-ess, n.p. 1038A female superior of a convent of nuns.
  34. Prī-ŏr'i-ty, n.p. 1038The state of being antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of birth. Priority of debts, a superior claim to payment, or to payment before others. Syn.—Antecedence…
  35. Prī'or-ly, adv.p. 1038Antecedently. [Rare.] Geddes.
  36. Prī'or-ship, n.p. 1038The state or office of prior.
  37. Prī'o-ry, n.p. 1038A religious house, the head of which was a prior or prioress, and which was in dignity below an abbey. ☞ Of such houses there were two sorts: one, where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and…
  38. Pri's'age, n.p. 1038(O. Eng. Law.) (a.) A right belonging to the crown of England, of taking two tuns of wine from every ship importing twenty tuns or more; one before and one behind the mast. This, by charter of Edward…
  39. Pris-cĭl'li-an-ist, n.p. 1038(Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Priscillian, bishop of Avila, in Spain, in the fourth century, who embraced some of the errors of the Gnostics, and, though of unimpeachable morals and a very devout man…
  40. Prīse, n.p. 1038See PRIZE. Halliwell.
  41. Priʹser, n.p. 1038One who contends for a prize; a prizer. [Obs.] See PRIZER.
  42. Prism, n.p. 1038(Geom.) A solid whose bases or ends are any similar, equal, and parallel plane figures, and whose sides are parallelograms. 2. (Opt.) A transparent body, with, usually, three rectangular plane faces…
  43. Pris-măt'ic or Pris-măt'ic-al, a.p. 1038Resembling or related to a prism; as, a prismatic form. 2. Separated or distributed by a prism; formed by a prism; as, prismatic colors. 3. (Crystal-log.) Pertaining to the trimeric system or…
  44. Pris-măt′/ic-al-ly, adv.p. 1038In the form or manner of a prism; by means of a prism.
  45. Prĭs'ma-toid'al, a.p. 1038Having a prism-like form. Ure.
  46. Pris'moid, n.p. 1038A body that approaches to the form of a prism.
  47. Pris-moid'al, a.p. 1038Having the form of a prismoid.
  48. Prism’y, a.p. 1038Pertaining to, or like, a prism.
  49. Prĭs'on, n.p. 1038A building for the confinement or safe custody of debtors and criminals committed by process of law; a place of safe custody; a place of confinement or restraint. The tyrant Æolus, With power…
  50. Prĭs'ōn, v. t.p. 1039To shut up in a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty; to enchain; to captivate. “The prisoned soul.” Milton.
  51. Prĭs'on-bāse, n.p. 1039A kind of rural sport depending on swiftness in running from goals when pursued, by a player who is to catch the others;—also called prisoner's-base, and prisoner's-bars. Strutt.
  52. Prīz'on-er, n.p. 1039One who is confined in a prison. 2. A person under arrest or in custody, whether in prison or not; one held in confinement against his will; a captive; as, a prisoner at the bar of a court. Bouvier.
  53. Prīz'on-house, n.p. 1039A house in which prisoners are confined; a jail.
  54. Prĭz'on-ment, n.p. 1039Confinement in a prison; imprisonment. [Obs.] Shak.
  55. Prīs'tine, a.p. 1039Belonging to the beginning or earliest time; original; primitive; primeval; as, the pristine state of innocence; the pristine manners of a people; the pristine constitution of things.
  56. Prīth'eep. 1039A corruption of pray thee: as, I prithee; but it is generally used without the pronoun. What was that scream for, I prithee? L'Estrange.
  57. Prit'tle-prat'tle, n.p. 1039Empty talk; trifling loquacity;—a word used in contempt or ridicule. Bp. Bramhall.
  58. Pri'va-cy, n.p. 1039A state of being in retirement from the company or observation of others; secrecy. 2. A place of seclusion from company or observation; retreat; solitude; retirement. Her sacred privacies all open…
  59. Pri-vā'do, n.p. 1039A private friend; a confidential friend or confidant. [Obs.] The best intelligence, if it can be obtained, is from a fugitive privado. Fuller.
  60. Pri'vate, a.p. 1039Belonging to, or concerning, an individual person, company, or interest; peculiar to one's self; unconnected with others; not public; not general; separate; as, a man's private opinion, business, or…