Part 199

||Po`lis`soir" (?), n. [F.] 1. A polishing or grinding implement or instrument.

2. (Glass Making) A tool consisting of a flat wooden block with a long iron handle, used for flattening out split cylinders of blown glass.

Po"lo, n. A game similar to hockey played by swimmers.

Po"lo (?), n. [Sp., an air or popular song in Andalucia.] A Spanish gypsy dance characterized by energetic movements of the body while the feet merely shuffle or glide, with unison singing and rhythmic clapping of hands.

Po*lo"ni*um (?), n. [NL. So named after Poland, in L. form Polonia, one of the discoverers being a Pole.] (Chem.) A supposed new element, a radioactive substance discovered by M. and MMe. Curie in pitchblende. It is closely related chemically to bismuth. It emits only alpha rays and is perhaps identical with radium F.

Pol"y*phase (?), a. [Poly- + phase.] (Elec.) Having or producing two or more phases; multiphase; as, a polyphase machine, a machine producing two or more pressure waves of electro-motive force, differing in phase; a polyphase current.

Pol"y*phas`er (?), n. (Elec.) A machine generating more than one pressure wave; a multiphaser.

{ Pol`y*pho"tal (?), Pol"y*phote (?) }, a. [Poly- + Gr. &?;, &?;, light.] (Elec.) Pertaining to or designating arc lamps so constructed that more than one can be used on a single circuit.

Pol"y*type (?), n. [Poly- + - type: cf. F. polytype, a.] (Print.) A cast, or facsimile copy, of an engraved block, matter in type, etc. -- Pol"y*type, a.

Pol"y*type, v. t. [imp. & p. p. -typed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. - typing (?).] (Print.) To produce a polytype of; as, to polytype an engraving.

Po"mi*cul`ture (?), n. [L. pomum fruit + cultura culture.] (Hort.) The culture of fruit; pomology as an art.

Pom*pe"ian (?), a. [L. Pompeianus.] Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, Pompeii, an ancient city of Italy, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a. d., and partly uncovered by modern excavations.

Pompeian red. (Art) A brownish red approaching maroon, supposed to be imitated from the color of the wall panels of houses in Pompeii, which were decorated during the last age of the Republic.

Pom"-pom` (?), n. [Imitative.] A Vickers-Maxim one-pounder automatic machine cannon using metallic ammunition fed from a lopped belt attached to the gun; -- popularly so called from its peculiar drumming sound in action. Sometimes, any of other similar automatic cannons.

Pom"pon (?), n. (a) A hardy garden chrysanthemum having buttonlike heads of flowers. (b) Any of several dwarf varieties of the Provence rose.

Ponce"let (?), n. [After Jean Victor Poncelet, French engineer.] (Physics) A unit of power, being the power obtained from an expenditure of one hundred kilogram-meters of energy per second. One poncelet equals g watts, when g is the value of the acceleration of gravity in centimeters.

Po"ne (p"n), n. [L. pone, imper. of ponere to place.] 1. (a) An original writ, now superseded by the writ of certiorari, for removing a case from an inferior court into the Court of Exchequer. (b) An obsolete writ to enforce appearance in court by attaching goods or requiring securities.

2. (pron. pn) (Card Playing) The player who cuts the cards, being usually the player on the dealer's right.

Poo"nah paint`ing (?). [From Poona, in Bombay Province, India.] A style of painting, popular in England in the 19th century, in which a thick opaque color is applied without background and with scarcely any shading, to thin paper, producing flowers, birds, etc., in imitation of Oriental work. Hence: Poonah brush, paper, painter, etc.

Pope's head (?). A long-handled brush for dusting ceilings, etc., also for washing windows.

||Po*pov"tsy (?), n. pl. [Russ., prop., those having popes or priests.] See Raskolnik.

Pop"u*lism (?), n. (U. S. Politics) The political doctrines advocated by the People's party.

Pop"u*list (?), n. [L. populus people + -ist.] (U. S. Politics) A member of the People's party. -- Pop`u*lis"tic (#), a.

Por"gy (?), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous sparoid food fishes, as the jolthead porgy, the sheepshead porgy (Calamus penna) of the West Indies, the grass porgy (Calamus arctifrons) of Florida, and the red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) of Europe.

Po"ro*type (?), n. [See Pore, n., and -type.] A copy of a print, writing, etc., made by placing it upon a chemically prepared paper which is acted upon by a gas which permeates the paper of the print, writing, etc.

{ ||Po`seur" (?), n. masc.; pl. Poseurs (&?;), ||Po`seuse" (?), n. fem.; pl. Poseuses (&?;) }, [F.] A person who poses or attitudizes, esp. mentally.

Pos"i*tive, a. 1. (Mach. & Mech.) (a) Designating, or pertaining to, a motion or device in which the movement derived from a driver, or the grip or hold of a restraining piece, is communicated through an unyielding intermediate piece or pieces; as, a claw clutch is a positive clutch, while a friction clutch is not. (b) Designating, or pertaining to, a device giving a to-and-fro motion; as, a positive dobby.

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