Part 171

2. (Astron.) The shadow cast, in an eclipse, where the light is partly, but not wholly, cut off by the intervening body; the space of partial illumination between the umbra, or perfect shadow, on all sides, and the full light. Sir I. Newton.

The faint shade surrounding the dark central portion of a solar spot is also called the penumbra, and sometimes umbra.

3. (Paint.) The part of a picture where the shade imperceptibly blends with the light.

Pe*num"brala. Of or pertaining to a penumbra; resembling a penumbra; partially illuminated.

Pe*nu"ri*ous (?), a. [From Penury.] 1. Excessively sparing in the use of money; sordid; stingy; miserly. "A penurious niggard of his wealth." Milton.

2. Not bountiful or liberal; scanty.

Here creeps along a poor, penurious stream.

C. Pitt.

3. Destitute of money; suffering extreme want. [Obs.] "My penurious band." Shak.

Syn. -- Avaricious; covetous; parsimonious; miserly; niggardly; stingy. See Avaricious.

--Pe*nu"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- Pe*nu"ri*ous*ness, n.

Pen"u*ry (?), n. [L. penuria; cf. Gr. &?; hunger, &?; poverty, need, &?; one who works for his daily bread, a poor man, &?; to work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf. F. pÈnurie.] 1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. "A penury of military forces." Bacon.

They were exposed to hardship and penury.

Sprat.

It arises in neither from penury of thought.

Landor.

2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.

Pen"wip`er (?), n. A cloth, or other material, for wiping off or cleaning ink from a pen.

Pen"wom`an (?), n.; pl. Penwomen (&?;). A female writer; an authoress. Johnson.

Pe"on (?), n. See Poon.

Pe"on, n. [Sp. peon, or Pg. pe&?;o, one who travels on foot, a foot soldier, a pawn in chess. See Pawn in chess.] 1. A foot soldier; a policeman; also, an office attendant; a messenger. [India]

2. A day laborer; a servant; especially, in some of the Spanish American countries, debtor held by his creditor in a form of qualified servitude, to work out a debt.

3. (Chess) See 2d Pawn.

Pe"on*age (?), n. The condition of a peon.

Pe"on*ism (?), n. Same as Peonage. D. Webster.

Pe"o*ny (?), n.; pl. Peonies (#). [OE. pione, pioine, pioni, OF. pione, F. pivoine, L. paeonia, Gr. &?;, fr. &?;, &?;, the god of healing. Cf. PÊan.] (Bot.) A plant, and its flower, of the ranunculaceous genus PÊonia. Of the four or five species, one is a shrub; the rest are perennial herbs with showy flowers, often double in cultivation. [Written also pÊony, and piony.]

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Peo"ple (?), n. [OE. peple, people, OF. pueple, F. peuple, fr. L. populus. Cf. Populage, Public, Pueblo.] 1. The body of persons who compose a community, tribe, nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a whole; a community; a nation.