Part 190

Pep"per box` (?), n. A buttress on the left-hand wall of a fives court as the game is played at Eton College, England.

Per`ca*line" (?), n. [F.] A fine kind of cotton goods, usually of one color, and with a glossy surface, -- much use for linings.

Per"co*la`tor, n. 1. A kind of coffee pot in which the heated water is caused to filter through the coffee and thus extract its essence.

2. (Pharmacy) An apparatus for producing an extract from a drug by percolation.

||Per di"em (?). [L.] By the day; substantively (chiefly U. S.), an allowance or amount of so much by the day.

||Père (pâr), n. [F., fr. L. pater. See Father.] Father; -- often used after French proper names to distinguish a father from his son; as, Dumas père.

Per"go*la (?), n. [It., fr. L. pergula shed, shop, vine arbor.] Lit., an arbor or bower; specif.: (Italian art) An arbor or trellis treated architecturally, as with stone columns or similar massive structure.

||Per"go*lo (?), n. [It.] A continuous colonnade or arcade; -- applied to the decorative groups of windows, as in Venetian palazzi.

Per`i*cys*ti"tis (?), n. [NL. See Peri-, and Cystitis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the tissues surrounding the bladder.

Pe*rip"ter*y (?), n. [Gr. &?; flying round about.] The region surrounding a moving body, such as the wing of a bird or a gliding aëroplane, within which cyclic or vortical motion of the air occur.

Pe*rique" (?), n. [Louisiana F.] A kind of tobacco with medium-sized leaf, small stem, tough and gummy fiber, raised in Louisiana, and cured in its own juices, so as to be very dark colored, usually black. It is marketed in tightly wrapped rolls called carottes.

Per"me*ance (?), n. [See Permeant.] Permeation; specif. (Magnetism), the reciprocal of reluctance.

Per*mit" (?), n. [Cf. Sp. palamida a kind of scombroid fish.] (a) A large pompano (Trachinotus goodei) of the West Indies, Florida, etc. It becomes about three feet long. (b) The round pompano. (T. falcatus). [Local, U. S.]

Per"mu*la`tor (?), n. (Elec.) A special form of rotary converter with stationary commutator and rotating brushes, in which the exciting field is induced by the alternating current in a short-circuited magnetic core instead of being produced by an external magnet.

{ Per*nick"et*y Per*nick"et*ty } (?), a. Finical or fussy; full of petty details. [Colloq.]

Per*pet"u*al cal"en*dar. A calendar that can be used perpetually or over a wide range of years. That of Capt. Herschel covers, as given below, dates from 1750 to 1961 only, but is capable of indefinite extension.

To find the day of the week corresponding to any date, find the small letter directly under the month and opposite the day of the month; the same small letter also appears in the vertical column that contains the number of the year, and if the line in which it stands is followed out to the right, the day of the week is found. Thus, the small letter under March and opposite 18 is b; b appears again directly over 1904, and at its right is the word Friday. March 18 fell on Friday in 1904, and also in 1898, 1892, etc. The calendar has other uses, as for finding the months which begin on Sunday in a particular year, etc.

Per"ron (?), n. [F.] (Arch.) An out-of-door flight of steps, as in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story; -- usually applied to mediævel or later structures of some architectural pretensions.

Per"se*id (?), n. [From Perseus.] (Astron.) One of a group of shooting stars appearing annually about the 10th of August. They are probably fragments of Swift's comet 1862 (III).

Per"si*co (?), n. = Persicot.

Per`si*enne" (pr`s*n"; - sh*n"; F. pr`syn"), n. [F., fem. of presien Persian.] Properly, printed calico, whether Oriental or of fanciful design with flowers, etc., in Western work. Hence, as extended in English, material of a similar character.

Per`si*ennes" (-nz"; F. pr`syn"), n. pl. [F.] Window blinds having movable slats, similar to Venetian blinds.

Per"sism (?), n. Ancient Persian religion, esp. as represented by the Magi.

This system we shall call 'Persism', in order to free ourselves of the popular associations still connected with such terms as magism, Parseeism, and so forth; meaning by 'Persism' the teaching of Zarathustra as it affected the Greek and Latin world.

E. Vernon Arnold.

||Pe*tite" (?), a. [F., fem. of petit.] Small, little; of a woman or girl, of small size and trim figure.

||Pe*tit" mal" (?). [F., lit., little sickness.] (Med.) The mildest form of epilepsy, with momentary faintness or unconsciousness, but without convulsions; -- opposed to grand mal.

Pe*tune" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petuned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Petuning.] [See Petunia.] (Agric.) To spray (tobacco) with a liquid intended to produce flavor or aroma.