The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section P and Q

Part 1

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Version published 1913

by the C. & G. Merriam Co. Springfield, Mass. Under the direction of Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D.

P (p), the sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a nonvocal consonant whose form and value come from the Latin, into which language the letter was brought, through the ancient Greek, from the Phúnician, its probable origin being Egyptian. Etymologically P is most closely related to b, f, and v; as hobble, hopple; father, paternal; recipient, receive. See B, F, and M.

See Guide to Pronunciation, ßß 247, 248, and 184- 195.

Pa (p‰), n. A shortened form of Papa.

Pa"age (p"j; 48), n. [OF. paage, paiage, F. pÈage, fr. (assumed) LL. pedaticum, fr. L. pes, pedis, foot. See Pedage, Pedal.] (O. Eng. Law) A toll for passage over another person's grounds. [Written also peage and pedage.] Burke.

||Paard (p‰rd), n. [D., a horse.] The zebra. [S. Africa]

Paas (p‰s), n. Pace [Obs.] Chaucer

Paas (ps), n. [D. paash. See Pasch.] The Easter festival. [Local, U. S.] Bartlett.

Paas egg. See Easter egg, under Easter.

Pab"u*lar (?), a. [L. pabularis.] Of, pertaining to, or fit for, pabulum or food; affording food.

Pab`u*la"tion (?), n. [L. pabulatio, fr. pabulari to feed, fr. pabulum food. See Pabulum.]

1. The act of feeding, or providing food. [Obs.] Cockeram.

2. Food; fodder; pabulum. [Obs.]

Pab"u*lous (?), a. [L. pabulosus.] Affording pabulum, or food; alimental. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Pab"u*lum (?), n. [L., akin to pascere to pasture. See Pastor.] The means of nutriment to animals or plants; food; nourishment; hence, that which feeds or sustains, as fuel for a fire; that upon which the mind or soul is nourished; as, intellectual pabulum.

Pac (?), n. A kind of moccasin, having the edges of the sole turned up and sewed to the upper. Knight.

Pa"ca (?), n. [Pg., from the native name.] (Zoˆl.) A small South American rodent (Cúlogenys paca), having blackish brown fur, with four parallel rows of white spots along its sides; the spotted cavy. It is nearly allied to the agouti and the Guinea pig.

Pa"ca*ble (?), a. [L. pacare to pacify.] Placable. [R.] Coleridge.

Pa*cane" (?), n. (Bot.) A species of hickory. See Pecan.

Pa"cate (?), a. [L. pacatus, p. p. of pacare to pacify, fr. pax, pacis, peace. See Pay to requite, Peace.] Appeased; pacified; tranquil. [R.]

Pa"ca*ted (?), a. Pacified; pacate.

Pa*ca"tion (?), n. [L. pacatio.] The act of pacifying; a peacemaking. Coleridge.

Pace (?), n. [OE. pas, F. pas, from L. passus a step, pace, orig., a stretching out of the feet in walking; cf. pandere, passum, to spread, stretch; perh. akin to E. patent. Cf. Pas, Pass.] 1. A single movement from one foot to the other in walking; a step.

2. The length of a step in walking or marching, reckoned from the heel of one foot to the heel of the other; -- used as a unit in measuring distances; as, he advanced fifty paces. "The heigh of sixty pace ." Chaucer.

Ordinarily the pace is estimated at two and one half linear feet; but in measuring distances be stepping, the pace is extended to three feet (one yard) or to three and three tenths feet (one fifth of a rod). The regulation marching pace in the English and United States armies is thirty inches for quick time, and thirty-six inches for double time. The Roman pace (passus) was from the heel of one foot to the heel of the same foot when it next touched the ground, five Roman feet.

3. Manner of stepping or moving; gait; walk; as, the walk, trot, canter, gallop, and amble are paces of the horse; a swaggering pace; a quick pace. Chaucer.

Part 2

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.

Shak.

In the military schools of riding a variety of paces are taught.

Walsh.

4. A slow gait; a footpace. [Obs.] Chucer.

5. Specifically, a kind of fast amble; a rack.

6. Any single movement, step, or procedure. [R.]

The first pace necessary for his majesty to make is to fall into confidence with Spain.

Sir W. Temple.

7. (Arch.) A broad step or platform; any part of a floor slightly raised above the rest, as around an altar, or at the upper end of a hall.

8. (Weaving) A device in a loom, to maintain tension on the warp in pacing the web.

Geometrical pace, the space from heel to heel between the spot where one foot is set down and that where the same foot is again set down, loosely estimated at five feet, or by some at four feet and two fifths. See Roman pace in the Note under def. 2. [Obs.] -- To keep, or hold, pace with, to keep up with; to go as fast as. "In intellect and attainments he kept pace with his age." Southey.

Pace (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Paced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pacing (?).] 1. To go; to walk; specifically, to move with regular or measured steps. "I paced on slowly." Pope. "With speed so pace." Shak.

2. To proceed; to pass on. [Obs.]

Or that I further in this tale pace.

Chaucer.

3. To move quickly by lifting the legs on the same side together, as a horse; to amble with rapidity; to rack.

4. To pass away; to die. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Pace, v. t. 1. To walk over with measured tread; to move slowly over or upon; as, the guard paces his round. "Pacing light the velvet plain." T. Warton.

2. To measure by steps or paces; as, to pace a piece of ground.

3. To develop, guide, or control the pace or paces of; to teach the pace; to break in.

If you can, pace your wisdom In that good path that I would wish it go.

Shak

To pace the web (Weaving), to wind up the cloth on the beam, periodically, as it is woven, in a loom.

Paced (?), a. Having, or trained in, a pace or gait; trained; -- used in composition; as, slow- paced; a thorough-paced villain.

Pa"cer (?), n. One who, or that which, paces; especially, a horse that paces.

Pa*cha" (?), n. [F.] See Pasha.

||Pa`cha*ca*mac" (?), n. A divinity worshiped by the ancient Peruvians ||as the creator of the universe.

Part 3

||Pa*chak" (?), n. (Bot.) The fragrant roots of the Saussurea Costus, ||exported from India to China, and used for burning as incense. It is ||supposed to be the costus of the ancients. [Written also putchuck.]

Pa*cha"lic (?), a. & n. See Pashalic.

||Pa*chi"si (?), Par*che"si (&?;), n. [Hind., fr. pachis twenty-five, ||the highest throw in the game.] A game, somewhat resembling ||backgammon, originating in India.

Pa*chom"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. pa`chos thickness + -meter.] (Physics) An instrument for measuring thickness, as of the glass of a mirror, or of paper; a pachymeter.

||Pa*chon"ta (?), n. (Bot.) A substance resembling gutta-percha, and ||used to adulterate it, obtained from the East Indian tree Isonandra ||acuminata.

Pach"y- (?). [Gr. &?; thick.] A combining form meaning thick; as, pachyderm, pachydactyl.

Pach`y*car"pous (?), a. [Pachy- + Gr. &?; fruit.] (Bot.) Having the pericarp thick.

Pach`y*dac"tyl (?), n. [Pachy- + dactyl.] (Zoˆl.) A bird or other animal having thick toes.

Pach`y*dac"tyl*ous (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Having thick toes.

Pach"y*derm (?), n. [Cf. F. pachyderme.] (Zoˆl.) One of the Pachydermata.

Pach`y*der"mal (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or relating to the pachyderms; as, pachydermal dentition.

||Pach`y*der"ma*ta (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; thick-skinned; pachy`s ||thick + &?; skin.] (Zoˆl.) A group of hoofed mammals distinguished ||for the thickness of their skins, including the elephant, ||hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tapir, horse, and hog. It is now considered ||an artificial group.

Pach`y*der"ma*tous (?), a. 1. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the pachyderms.

2. Thick-skinned; not sensitive to ridicule.

Pach`y*der"moid (?), a. [Pachyderm + -oid.] (Zoˆl.) Related to the pachyderms.

Pach`y*glos"sal (?), a. [Pachy- + Gr. &?; tongue.] (Zoˆl.) Having a thick tongue; -- applied to a group of lizards (PachyglossÊ), including the iguanas and agamas.

Pach`y*men`in*gi"tis (?), n. [Pachy- + meningitis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the dura mater or outer membrane of the brain.

Pa*chym"e*ter (?), n. [Pachy- + -meter.] Same as Pachometer.

Pach"y*ote (?), n. [Pachy- + Gr. &?;, &?;, ear.] (Zoˆl.) One of a family of bats, including those which have thick external ears.

Pac"i*fi`a*ble (?), a. Capable of being pacified or appeased; placable.

Pa*cif"ic (?), a. [L. pacificus: cf. F. pacifique. See Pacify.] Of or pertaining to peace; suited to make or restore peace; of a peaceful character; not warlike; not quarrelsome; conciliatory; as, pacific words or acts; a pacific nature or condition.

Pacific Ocean, the ocean between America and Asia, so called by Magellan, its first European navigator, on account of the exemption from violent tempests which he enjoyed while sailing over it; -- called also, simply, the Pacific, and, formerly, the South sea.

Syn. -- Peacemaking; appeasing; conciliatory; tranquil; calm; quiet; peaceful; reconciling; mild; gentle.

Pa*cif"ic*a*ble (?), a. Placable. [R.] Bp. Hall.

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