Part 197

4. Loosely, a sporting contest for a prize; specif., in horse racing, a race for a prize, the contestants not making a stake.

5. Skins for fur linings of garments, sewed together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted. [Furrier's Cant]

6. (Hat Making) The fine nap (as of beaver, hare's wool, musquash, nutria, or English black wool) on a hat the body of which is of an inferior substance.

Plat"er (?), n. (Horse Racing) A horse that runs chiefly in plate, esp. selling-plate, races; hence, an inferior race horse.

Play, v. t. -- To play hob, to play the part of a mischievous spirit; to work mischief.

||Plebs (plbz), n. [L. Cf. Plebe.] 1. The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; - - distinguished from the patricians.

2. Hence, the common people; the populace; -- construed as a pl.

||Ple"num, n. (Ventilation) A condition, as in an occupied room, in which the pressure of the air is greater than that of the outside atmosphere; as, a plenum may exist in a hall ventilated by a fan blower.

Plex"us (?), n. A network; an intricate or interwoven combination of elements or parts in a coherent structure.

In the perception of a tree the reference to an object is circumscribed and directed by a plexus of visual and other presentations.

G. F. Stout.

Plop (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Plopped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Plopping.] [Imitative.] To fall, drop, or move in any way, with a sudden splash or slap, as on the surface of water.

The body plopped up, turning on its side.

Kipling.

Plop, n. Act of plopping; the sound made in plopping.

Plout"er (?), v. i. [Also plowter, plotter.] [Perh. imitative.] To wade or move about with splashing; to dabble; also, to potter; trifle; idle. [Scot. & Dial. Eng.]

I did not want to plowter about any more.

Kipling.

Plout"er, n. [Also plowter.] Act of ploutering; floundering; act or sound of splashing. [Scot. & Dial.Eng.]

Plück"er tube (?). [So named after Julius Plücker, a German physicist.] (Physics) (a) A vacuum tube, used in spectrum analysis, in which the part through which the discharge takes place is a capillary tube, thus producing intense incandescence of the contained gases. (b) Crookes tube.

Plug, n. -- Breech plug (Gun.), in breech-loading guns, the metal plug or cylinder which closes the aperture in the breech, through which the gun is loaded.

Plug board. (Elec.) A switchboard in which connections are made by means of plugs.

Plum, n. Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.

Plum"cot (?), n. [Plum + apricot.] (Hort.) A cross between the plum and apricot.

Plump (?), a. Done or made plump, or suddenly and without reservation; blunt; unreserved; direct; downright.

After the plump statement that the author was at Erceldoune and spake with Thomas.

Saintsbury.

Plunk (?), v. t. [Imitative.] [Chiefly Colloq.] 1. To pluck and release quickly (a musical string); to twang.