Part 415

Por"ous (?), a. [Cf. F. poreux. See Pore, n.] Full of pores; having interstices in the skin or in the substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; permeable by liquids; as, a porous skin; porous wood. "The veins of porous earth." Milton.

Por"ous*ly, adv. In a porous manner.

Por"ous*ness, n. 1. The quality of being porous.

2. The open parts; the interstices of anything. [R.]

They will forcibly get into the porousness of it.

Sir K. Digby.

Por"pen*tine (?), n. Porcupine. [Obs.] Shak.

Por"pesse (?), n. A porpoise. [Obs.]

Por`phy*ra"ceous (?), a. Porphyritic.

Por"phyre (?), n. Porphyry. [Obs.] Locke.

Por"phy*rite (?), n. (Min.) A rock with a porphyritic structure; as, augite porphyrite.

Por`phy*rit"ic (?), a. [Cf. F. porphyritique.] (Min.) Relating to, or resembling, porphyry, that is, characterized by the presence of distinct crystals, as of feldspar, quartz, or augite, in a relatively fine-grained base, often aphanitic or cryptocrystalline.

Por`phy*ri*za"tion (?), n. The act of porphyrizing, or the state of being porphyrized.

Por`phy*rize (?), v. t. [Cf. F. porphyriser, Gr. &?; to purplish.] To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in composition, like porphyry.

Por`phy*ro*gen"i*tism (?), n. [LL. porphyro genitus, fr. Gr. &?;; &?; purple + root of &?; to be born.] The principle of succession in royal families, especially among the Eastern Roman emperors, by which a younger son, if born after the accession of his father to the throne, was preferred to an elder son who was not so born. Sir T. Palgrave.

Por"phy*ry (?), n.; pl. Porphyries (#). [F. porphyre, L. porphyrites, fr. Gr. &?; like purple, fr. &?; purple. See Purple.] (Geol.) A term used somewhat loosely to designate a rock consisting of a fine-grained base (usually feldspathic) through which crystals, as of feldspar or quartz, are disseminated. There are red, purple, and green varieties, which are highly esteemed as marbles.

Porphyry shell (Zoˆl.), a handsome marine gastropod shell (Oliva porphyria), having a dark red or brown polished surface, marked with light spots, like porphyry.

||Por"pi*ta (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; brooch.] (Zoˆl.) A genus of ||bright-colored Siphonophora found floating in the warmer parts of the ||ocean. The individuals are round and disk-shaped, with a large zooid ||in the center of the under side, surrounded by smaller nutritive and ||reproductive zooids, and by slender dactylozooids near the margin. ||The disk contains a central float, or pneumatocyst.

Por"poise (?), n. [OE. porpeys, OF. porpeis, literally, hog fish, from L. porcus swine + piscis fish. See Pork, and Fish.] 1. (Zoˆl.) Any small cetacean of the genus PhocÊna, especially P. communis, or P. phocÊna, of Europe, and the closely allied American species (P. Americana). The color is dusky or blackish above, paler beneath. They are closely allied to the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also harbor porpoise, herring hag, puffing pig, and snuffer.

2. (Zoˆl.) A true dolphin (Delphinus); -- often so called by sailors.

Skunk porpoise, or Bay porpoise (Zoˆl.), a North American porpoise (Lagenorhynchus acutus), larger than the common species, and with broad stripes of white and yellow on the sides. See Illustration in Appendix.

||Por`po*ri"no (?), n. [It.] A composition of quicksilver, tin, and ||sulphur, forming a yellow powder, sometimes used by mediÊval artists, ||for the sake of economy, instead of gold. Fairholt.

Por"pus (?), n. A porpoise. [Obs.] Swift.

Por*ra"ceous (?), a. [L. porraceus, from porrum, porrus, a leek.] Resembling the leek in color; greenish. [R.] "Porraceous vomiting." Wiseman.

Por*rect" (?), a. [L. porrectus, p. p. of porrigere to stretch out before one's self, to but forth.] Extended horizontally; stretched out.

Por*rec"tion (?), n. [L. porrectio: cf. F. porrection.] The act of stretching forth.

Por"ret (?), n. [F. porrette, fr. L. porrum, porrus, leek. See Porraceous.] A scallion; a leek or small onion. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Por"ridge (?), n. [Probably corrupted fr. pottage; perh. influenced by OE. porree a kind of pottage, OF. porrÈe, fr. L. porrum, porrus, leek. See Pottage, and cf. Porringer.] A food made by boiling some leguminous or farinaceous substance, or the meal of it, in water or in milk, making of broth or thin pudding; as, barley porridge, milk porridge, bean porridge, etc.