Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
PARADIGMATIC — PARENTAGE
PARADIGMATIC, PARADIGMATICAL, a. Exemplary. [Little used.]
PARADIGMATIZE, v.t. To set forth as a model or example. [Little used.]
PARADING, ppr. Assembling and arraying in due order; making an ostentatious show.
PARADISE, n. [Gr.] The garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed immediately after their creation.
1. A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight.
The earth
Shall all be paradise--
2. Heaven, the blissful seat of sanctified souls after death.
This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke 23:43.
3. Primarily, in Persia, a pleasure-garden with parks and other appendages.
PARADISEA, n. Bird of Paradise, a genus of fowls, natives of the isles in the East Indies and of New Guinea.
PARADISEAN, PARADISIACAL, a. Pertaining to Eden or Paradise, or to a place of felicity.
1. Suiting paradise; like paradise.
PARADOX, n. [Gr. beyond, and opinion; to or suppose.]
A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion, or seemingly absurd, yet true in fact.
A gloss there is to color that paradox, and make it appear in show not to be altogether unreasonable.
PARADOXICAL, a. Having the nature of a paradox.
1. Inclined to tenets or notions contrary to received opinions; applied to persons.
PARADOXICALLY, adv. In a paradoxical manner, or in a manner seemingly absurd.
PARADOXICALNESS, n. State of being paradoxical.
PARADOXOLOGY, n. [paradox and Gr. discourse.]
The use of paradoxes. [Not used.]
PARAGOGE, n. par’agojy. [Gr. a drawing out.] The addition of a letter or syllable to the end of a word; as dicier for dici. This is called a figure in grammar.
PARAGOGIC, PARAGOGICAL, a. Pertaining to a paragoge; lengthening a word by the addition of a letter or syllable.
PARAGON, n. [L. par, equal.]
1. A model or pattern; a model by way of distinction, implying superior excellence or perfection; as a paragon of beauty or eloquence.
2. A companion; a fellow.
3. Emulation; a match for trial.
PARAGON, v.t.
1. To compare; to parallel.
The picture of Pamela, in little form, he wore in a tablet, purposing to paragon the little one with Artesia’s length. [Little used.]
2. To equal. [Little used.]
PARAGON, v.i. To pretend comparison or equality. [Little used.]
PARAGRAM, n. [Gr.] A play upon words or a pun.
PARAGRAMMATIST, n. A punster.
PARAGRAPH, n. [Gr. a marginal note; to write near or beyond the text; beyond, and to write.] A distinct part of a discourse or writing; any portion or section of a writing or chapter which relates to a particular point, whether consisting of one sentence or many sentences. A paragraph is sometimes marked, but more generally, a paragraph is distinguished only by a break in the composition or lines.
PARAGRAPH, v.t. To form or write paragraphs.
PARAGRAPHIC, a. Consisting of paragraphs or short divisions, with breaks.
PARAGRAPHICALLY, adv. By paragraphs; with distinct breaks or divisions.
PARALEPSIS, PARALEPSY, n. [Gr. omission; beyond or by, and to leave.]
In rhetoric, a pretended or apparent omission; a figure by which a speaker pretends to pass by what at the same time he really mentions.
PARALIPOMENA, n. [Gr. to omit; beyond, and to leave.]
Things omitted; a supplement containing things omitted in the preceding work. The books of Chronicles are so called.
PARALIZE, v.t. [Gr.] To affect as with palsy; to check action, or destroy the power of action.
PARALLACTIC, PARALLACTICAL, a. [See Parallax.] Pertaining to the parallax of a heavenly body.
PARALLAX, n. [Gr. to vary, to decline or wander; beyond, and to change.] In astronomy, the change of place in a heavenly body in consequence of being viewed from different points.
Diurnal parallax, the difference between the place of a celestial body, as seen from the surface, and from the center of the earth, at the same instant.
Annual parallax, the change of place in a heavenly body, in consequence of being viewed at opposite extremities of the earth’s orbit.
PARALLEL, a. [Gr. against or opposite, and one the other.]
1. In geometry, extended in the same direction, and in all parts equally distant. One body or line is parallel to another, when the surfaces of the bodies or the lines are at an equal distance throughout the whole length.
2. Having the same direction or tendency; running in accordance with something.
When honor runs parallel with the laws of God and our country, it cannot be too much cherished.
3. Continuing a resemblance through many particulars; like; similar; equal in all essential parts; as a parallel case; a parallel passage in the evangelists.
PARALLEL, n. A line which throughout its whole extent is equidistant from another line; as parallels of latitude.
Who made the spider parallels design,
Sure as De Moivre without rule or line?
1. A line on the globe marking the latitude.
2. Direction conformable to that of another line.
3. Conformity continued through many particulars or in all essential points; resemblance; likeness.
‘Twixt earthly females and the moon,
All parallels exactly run.
4. Comparison made; as, to draw a parallel between two characters.
5. Any thing equal to or resembling another in all essential particulars.
None but thyself can be thy parallel.
PARALLEL, v.t. To place so as to keep the same direction, and at an equal distance from something else.
1. To level; to equal.
2. To correspond to.
3. To be equal to; to resemble in all essential points.
4. To compare.
PARALLELABLE, a. That may be equaled. [Not much used.]
PARALLELISM, n. State of being parallel.
1. Resemblance; equality of state; comparison.
PARALLELLY, adv. In a parallel manner; with parallelism.
PARALLELOGRAM, n. [Gr.]
1. In geometry, a right lined quadrilateral figure, whose opposite sides are parallel and equal.
2. In common use, this word is applied to quadrilateral figures of more length than breadth, and this is its sense in the passage cited by Johnson from Brown.
PARALLELOGRAMIC, PARALLELOGRAMICAL, a. Having the properties of a parallelogram.
PARALLELOPIPED, n. [parallel and Gr. on, and a plain.]
In geometry, a regular solid comprehended under six parallelograms, the opposite ones of which are similar, parallel and equal to each other, or it is a prism whose base is a parallelogram. It is always triple to a pyramid of the same base and highth. Or a parallelopiped is a solid figure bounded by six faces, parallel to each other two and two.
PARALLELOPIPEDIA, n. A genus of spars, externally of a determinate and regular figure, always found loose and separate from other bodies, and in the form of an oblique parallelopiped, with six parallelogramic sides and eight solid angles.
PARALOGISM, n. [Gr. beyond, and reasoning; discourse, reason.]
In logic, a fallacious argument or false reasoning; an error committed in demonstration, when a consequence is drawn from principles which are false, or though true, are not proved; or when a proposition is passed over that should have been proved by the way.
PARALOGIZE, v.i. To reason falsely.
PARALOGY, n. False reasoning. [supra.]
PARALYSIS, n. [Gr. to loosen, dissolve or weaken.] Palsy; the loss of the power of muscular motion, or of the command of the muscles.
PARALYTIC, PARALYTICAL, a. Affected with palsy; deprived of the power of muscular motion; sometimes, weak; trembling; subject to an involuntary shaking; as a paralytic arm.
1. Inclined or tending to palsy.
PARALYTIC, n. A person affected with palsy.
PARAMETER, n. [Gr.]
1. The latus rectum of a parabola. It is a third proportional to the abscissa and any ordinate, so that the square of the ordinate is always equal to the rectangle under the parameter and abscissa; but in the ellipsis and hyperbola it has a different proportion.
2. In conic sections, a third proportional to any diameter and its conjugate. In the parabola, a third proportional to any absciss and its ordinate.
PARAMOUNT, a.
1. Superior to all others; possessing the highest title or jurisdiction; as lord paramount, the chief lord of the fee, or of lands, tenements and hereditaments. In England, the king is lord paramount, of whom all the land in the kingdom is supposed to be held. But in some cases the lord of several manors is called the lord paramount.
2. Eminent; of the highest order.
3. Superior to all others; as, private interest is usually paramount to all other considerations.
PARAMOUNT, n. The chief; the highest in rank or order.
PARAMOUR, n. [L. per, and amour.]
1. A lover; a wooer.
2. A mistress.
PARANTHINE. [See Scapolite.]
PARANYMPH, n. [Gr. by, and a bride or spouse.]
1. A brideman; one who leads the bride to her marriage.
2. One who countenances and supports another.
PARAPEGM, n. par’apem. [Gr.] A brazen table fixed to a pillar, on which laws and proclamations were anciently engraved; also, a table set in a public place, containing an account of the rising and setting of the stars, eclipses, seasons, etc.
PARAPET, n. [L. pectus.] Literally, a wall or rampart to the breast or breast high; but in practice, a wall, rampart or elevation of earth for covering soldiers from an enemy’s shot.
PARAPHERNA, PARAPHERNALIA, n. [Gr. beyond, and dower.] The goods which a wife brings with her at her marriage, or which she possesses beyond her dower or jointure, and which remain at her disposal after her husband’s death. Such are her apparel and her ornaments, over which the executors have no control, unless when the assets are insufficient to pay the debts.
PARAPHERNAL, a. Pertaining to or consisting in parapherna; as paraphernal property.
PARAPHRASE, n. s as z. [Gr. beyond, and phrase.] An explanation of some text or passage in a book, in a more clear and ample manner than is expressed in the words of the author. Such as the paraphrase of the New Testament by Erasmus.
In paraphrase, or translation with latitude, the author’s words are not so strictly followed as his sense.
PARAPHRASE, v.t. To explain, interpret or translate with latitude; to unfold the sense of an author with more clearness and particularity than it is expressed in his own words.
PARAPHRASE, v.i. To interpret or explain amply; to make a paraphrase.
Where translation is impracticable, they may paraphrase.
PARAPHRASED, pp. Amply explained or translated.
PARAPHRASING, ppr. Explaining or translating amply and freely.
PARAPHRAST, n. [Gr.] One that paraphrases; one that explains or translates in words more ample and clear than the words of the author.
PARPHRASTICTICAL, a. Free, clear and ample in explanation; explaining or translating in words more clear and ample than those of the author; not verbal or literal.
PARAPHRASTICALLY, adv. In a paraphrastic manner.
PARAPHRENITIS, n. [Gr. delirium.] An inflammation of the diaphragm.
PARAPLEGY, n. [Gr. beyond, and stroke; to smite.]
That kind of palsy which affects the lower part of the body.
PARAQUET, n. A little parrot.
PARASANG, n. A persian measure of length, which Herodotus states to be thirty stadia, nearly four English miles; but in different times and places, it has been 30, 40 or 50 stadia.
PARASCEUASTIC, a. Preparatory.
PARASCEVE, n. [Gr. preparation.] Preparation; the sabbath-eve of the Jews.
PARASELENE, n. [Gr. about or near, and the moon.] A mock moon; a luminous ring or circle encompassing the moon, in which sometimes are other bright spots bearing some resemblance to the moon.
PARASITE, n. [L. parasita; Gr. by, and corn.]
1. In ancient Greece, a priest or minister of the gods whose office was to gather of the husbandman the corn allotted for public sacrifices. The parasites also superintended the sacrifices.
2. In modern usage, a trencher friend; one that frequents the tables of the rich and earns his welcome by flattery; a hanger on; a fawning flatterer.
3. In botany, a plant growing on the stem or branch of another plant and receiving its nourishment from it, as the mistletoe.
PARASITIC, PARASITICAL, a. Flattering; wheedling; fawning for bread or favors.
1. Growing on the stem or branch of another plant; as a parasitic plant.
PARASITICALLY, adv. In a flattering or wheedling manner; by dependence on another.
PARASITISM, n. The behavior or manners of a parasite.
PARASOL, n. [L. sol.] A small umbrella used by ladies to defend themselves from rain, or their faces from the sun’s rays.
PARAT, n. A fish or the mullet kind, found in Brazil.
PARATHESIS, n. [Gr.] In grammar, apposition, or the placing of two or more nouns in the same case.
PARAVAIL, a. In feudal law, the tenant paravail, is the lowest tenant holding under a mean or mediate lord, as distinguished from a tenant in capite, who holds immediately of the king.
PARAVANT, PARAVAUNT, adv. In front; publicly. [Not English nor used.]
PARBOIL, v.t.
1. To boil in part; to boil in a moderate degree.
2. To cause little pustules or pushes on the skin by means of heat; as parboiled wretches.
PARBREAK, v.i. [See Break.] To vomit.
PARBUCKLE, n. Among seamen, a rope like a pair of slings for hoisting casks, etc.
PARCEL, n. [L. particula, particle, from pars, part.]
1. A part; a portion of any thing taken separately.
The same experiments succeed on two parcels of the white of an egg.
2. A quantity; any mass.
3. A part belonging to a whole; as in law, one piece of ground is part and parcel of a greater piece.
4. A small bundle or package of goods.
5. A number of persons; on contempt.
6. A number or quantity; in contempt; as a parcel of fair words.
P`ARCEL, v.t. To divide into parts or portions; as, to parcel an estate among heirs.
These ghostly kings would parcel out my power.
1. To make up into a mass. [Little used.]
To parcel a seam, in seamen’s language, to lay canvas over it and daub it with pitch.
PARCELED, pp. Divided into portions.
PARCELING, ppr. Dividing into portions.
P`ARCELING, n. Among seamen, long narrow slips of canvas daubed with tar and bound about a rope like a bandage, before it is sewed. It is used also to raise a mouse on the stays, etc.
PARCENARY, n. Co-heirship; the holding or occupation of lands of inheritance by two or more persons. It differs from joint-tenancy, which is created by deed or devise; whereas parcenary, or co-parcenary, is created by the descent of lands from an ancestor.
PARCENER, n. [L. pars.] Parcener or co-parcener is a co-heir, or one who holds lands by descent from an ancestor in common with another or with others; as when land descends to a man’s daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, or their representatives. In this case, all the heirs inherit as parceners or co-heirs.
PARCH, v.t. [I know not from what source we have received this word. It corresponds in elements with the Italian bruciare, to burn or roast. Qu. L. peraresco.]
1. To burn the surface of a thing; to scorch; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn.
2. To dry to extremity; as, the heat of the sun’s rays parches the ground; the mouth is parched with thirst.
P`ARCH, v.i. To be scorched or superficially burnt; as, corn will dry and parch into barley.
1. To become very dry.
PARCHED, pp. Scorched; dried to extremity.
PARCHEDNESS, n. The state of being scorched or dried to extremity.
PARCHING, ppr. Scorching; drying to extremity.
1. a. Having the quality of burning or drying; as the parching heat of African sands.
PARCHMENT, [L. pergamena; purgo] The skin of a sheep or goat dressed or prepared and rendered fit for writing on. This is done by separating all the flesh and hair, rubbing the skin with pumice stone, and reducing its thickness with a sharp instrument. Vellum is made of the skins of abortive or very young calves.
PARACHMENT-MAKER, n. One who dresses skins for parchment.
PARD, n. [L. pardus.] The leopard; or in poetry, any spotted beast. Instead of pard, we generally use leopard, the lion-pard. Pardale, from the Latin pardalis, is not used.
PARDON, v.t. [L. per and dono, to give; per having the sense of the English for in forgive, and re in L. remitto, properly to give back or away.]
1. To forgive; to remit; as an offense or crime. Guilt implies a being bound or subjected to censure, penalty or punishment. To pardon, is to give up this obligation, and release the offender. We apply the word to the crime or to the person. We pardon an offense, when we remove it from the offender and consider him as not guilty; we pardon the offender, when we release or absolve him from his liability to suffer punishment.
I pray thee, pardon my sin. 1 Samuel 15:25.
2. To remit, as a penalty.
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
3. To excuse, as for a fault.
4. Pardon me, is a phrase used when one asks for excuse, or makes an apology, and it is often used in this sense, when a person means civilly to deny or contradict what another affirms.
P`ARDON, n. Forgiveness; the release of an offense or of the obligation of the offender to suffer a penalty, or to bear the displeasure of the offended party. We seek the pardon of sins, transgressions and offenses.
1. Remission of a penalty. An amnesty is a general pardon.
2. Forgiveness received.
PARDONABLE, a. That may be pardoned; applied to persons. The offender is pardonable.
1. Venial; excusable; that may be forgiven, overlooked or passed by; applied to things; as a pardonable offense.
PARDONABLENESS, n. The quality of being pardonable; venialness; susceptibility of forgiveness; as the pardonableness of sin.
PARDONABLY, adv. In a manner admitting of pardon; venially; excusably.
PARDONED, pp. Forgiven; excused.
PARDONER, n. One that forgives; one that absolves an offender.
1. One that sells the pope’s indulgences.
PARDONING, ppr. Forgiving; remitting an offense or crime; absolving from punishment.
PARE, v.t. [L. paro; Gr. lame; to mutilate; Heb. to create; to cut off. The primary sense is to thrust or drive, hence to drive off, to separate, to stop by setting or repelling, as in parry, or to drive off or out, as in separating or producing.]
1. To cut off, as the superficial substance or extremities of a thing; to shave off with a sharp instrument; as, to pare an apple or an orange; to pare the nails; to pare a horse’s hoof; to pare land in agriculture.
2. To diminish by little and little.
The king began to pare a little the privilege of clergy.
When pare is followed by the thing diminished, the noun is in the objective case; as, to pare the nails. When the thing separated is the object, pare is followed by off or away; as, to pare off the rind of fruit; to pare away redundances.
PARED, pp. Freed from any thing superfluous on the surface or at the extremities.
PAREGORIC, a. [Gr. to mitigate.]
Mitigating; assuaging pain; as paregoric elixir.
PAREGORIC, n. A medicine that mitigates pain; an anodyne.
PARELCON, n. [Gr. to draw out.] In grammar, the addition of a word or syllable to the end of another.
PAREMBOLE, n. parem’boly. [Gr. insertion.] In rhetoric, the insertion of something relating to the subject in the middle of a period. It differs from the parenthesis only in this; the parembole relates to the subject, the parenthesis is foreign from it.
PARENCHYMA, n. [Gr. to suffuse.]
1. In anatomy, the solid and interior part of the viscera, or the substance contained in the interstices between the blood vessels of the viscera; a spungy substance.
Parenchyma is the substance or basis of the glands.
2. In botany, the pith or pulp of plants.
PARENCHYMATOUS, PARENCHYMOUS, a. [See the Noun.] Pertaining to parenchyma; spungy; soft; porous.
PARENESIS, n. [Gr. to exhort.] Persuasion; exhortation. [Little used.]
PARENETIC, PARENETICAL, a. Hortatory; encouraging.
PARENT, n. [L. parens, from pario, to produce or bring forth. The regular participle of pario is pariens, and parens is the regular participle of pareo, to appear.]
1. A father or mother; he or she that produces young. The duties of parents to their children are to maintain, protect and educate them.
When parents are wanting in authority, children are wanting in duty.
2. That which produces; cause; source.
Idleness is the parent of vice.
Regular industry is the parent of sobriety.