Part 209

In fable, hymn, or song so personating Their gods ridiculous.

Milton.

Per"son*ate, v. t. [L. personatus masked, assumed, fictitious, fr. persona a mask. See Person.] 1. To assume the character of; to represent by a fictitious appearance; to act the part of; hence, to counterfeit; to feign; as, he tried to personate his brother; a personated devotion. Hammond.

2. To set forth in an unreal character; to disguise; to mask. [R.] "A personated mate." Milton.

3. To personify; to typify; to describe. Shak.

Per"son*ate, v. i. To play or assume a character.

Per"son*ate (?), a. [L. personatus masked.] (Bot.) Having the throat of a bilabiate corolla nearly closed by a projection of the base of the lower lip; masked, as in the flower of the snapdragon.

Per`son*a"tion (?), n. The act of personating, or conterfeiting the person or character of another.

Per"son*a`tor (?), n. One who personates. "The personators of these actions." B. Jonson.

Per`son*e"i*ty (?), n. Personality. [R.] Coleridge.

Per*son`i*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. personnification.] 1. The act of personifying; impersonation; embodiment. C. Knight.

2. (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with personality; prosopop&?;ia; as, the floods clap their hands. "Confusion heards his voice." Milton.

Per*son"i*fi`er (?), n. One who personifies.

Per*son"i*fy (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Personified (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Personifying (?).] [Person + -fy: cf. F. personnifier.] 1. To regard, treat, or represent as a person; to represent as a rational being.

The poets take the liberty of personifying inanimate things.

Chesterfield.

2. To be the embodiment or personification of; to impersonate; as, he personifies the law.

Per"son*ize (?), v. t. To personify. [R.]

Milton has personized them.

J. Richardson.

||Per`son`nel" (?), n. [F. See Personal.] The body of persons employed ||in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished ||from matÈriel.

Per*spec"tive (?), a. [L. perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per + spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or from E. perspective, n. See Spy, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. [Obs.] Bacon.

2. Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective.

Perspective plane, the plane or surface on which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; -- distinguished from the ground plane, which is that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique perspective; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective. -- Perspective shell (Zoˆl.), any shell of the genus Solarium and allied genera. See Solarium.

Per*spec"tive, n. [F. perspective, fr. perspectif: cf. It. perspettiva. See Perspective, a.] 1. A glass through which objects are viewed. [Obs.] "Not a perspective, but a mirror." Sir T. Browne.

2. That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista. "The perspective of life." Goldsmith.

3. The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, aÎrial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects.

AÎrial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc.