Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
PITCHFARTHING — PLANIFOLIOUS
PITCHFARTHING, n. A play in which copper coin is pitched into a hole; called also chuck-farthing, from the root of choke.
PITCHFORK, n. A fork or farming utensil used in throwing hay or sheaves of grain, in loading or unloading carts and wagons.
PITCHINESS, n. [from pitch.] Blackness; darkness. [Little used.]
PITCHING, ppr. Setting; planting or fixing; throwing headlong; plunging; daubing with pitch; setting, as a tune.
1. a. Declivous; descending; sloping; as a hill.
PITCHING, n. In navigation, the rising and falling of the head and stern of a ship, as she moves over waves; or the vertical vibration of a ship about her center of gravity.
PITCH-ORE, n. Pitch-blend, an ore of uranium.
PITCHPIPE, n. An instrument used by choristers in regulating the pitch or elevation of the key or leading note of a tune.
PITCH-STONE, n. A mineral, a sub-species of quartz, which in luster and texture resembles pitch, whence its name. It is sometimes called resinite. Its colors are, several shades of green; black with green, brown or gray; brown, tinged with red, green or yellow; sometimes yellowish or blue. It occurs in large beds and sometimes forms whole mountains.
PITCHY, a. Partaking of the qualities of pitch; like pitch.
1. Smeared with pitch.
2. Black; dark; dismal; as the pitchy mantle of night.
PIT-COAL, n. Fossil coal; coal dug from the earth.
PITEOUS, a. [See Pity.] Sorrowful; mournful; that may excite pity; as a piteous look.
1. Wretched; miserable; deserving compassion; as a piteous condition.
2. Compassionate; affected by pity.
3. Pitiful; paltry; poor; as piteous amends.
PITEOUSLY, adv. In a piteous manner; with compassion.
1. Sorrowfully; mournfully.
PITEOUSNESS, n. Sorrowfulness.
1. Tenderness; compassion.
PITFALL, n. A pit slightly covered for concealment, and intended to catch wild beasts or men.
PITFALL, v.t. To lead into a pitfall.
PIT-FISH, n. A small fish of the Indian seas, about the size of a smelt, of a green and yellow color. It has the power of protruding or retracting its eyes at pleasure.
PITH, n.
1. The soft spungy substance in the center of plants and trees.
2. In animals, the spinal marrow.
3. Strength or force.
4. Energy; cogency; concentrated force; closeness and vigor of thought and style.
5. Condensed substance or matter; quintessence. The summary contains the pith of the original.
6. Weight; moment; importance.
Enterprises of great pith and moment.
PITHILY, adv. With strength; with close or concentrated force; cogently; with energy.
PITHINESS, n. Strength; concentrated force; as the pithiness of a reply.
PITHLESS, a. Destitute of pith; wanting strength.
1. Wanting cogency or concentrated force.
PITHOLE, n. A mark made by disease.
PITHY, a. Consisting of pith; containing pith; abounding with pith; as a pithy substance; a pithy stem.
1. Containing concentrated force; forcible; energetic; as a pithy word or expression.
This pithy speech prevailed and all agreed.
2. Uttering energetic words or expressions.
In all these, Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy.
PITIABLE, a. Deserving pity; worthy of compassion; miserable; as pitiable persons; a pitiable condition.
PITIABLENESS, n. State of deserving compassion.
PITIED, pp. Compassionated. [See the verb, to pity.]
PITIFUL, a. [See Pity.] Full of pity; tender; compassionate; having a heart to feel sorrow and sympathy for the distressed. James 5:11; 1 Peter 3:8. [This is the proper sense of the word.]
1. Miserable; moving compassion; as a sight most pitiful; a pitiful condition.
2. To be pitied for its littleness or meanness; paltry; contemptible; despicable.
That’s villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.
3. Very small; insignificant.
PITIFULLY, adv. With pity; compassionately.
Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts.
1. In a manner to excite pity.
They would sign and groan as pitifully as other men.
2. Contemptibly; with meanness.
PITIFULNESS, n. Tenderness of heart that disposes to pity; mercy; compassion.
1. Contemptibleness.
PITILESS, a. Destitute of pity; hardhearted; applied to persons; as a pitiless master.
1. Exciting no pity; as a pitiless state.
PITILESSLY, adv. Without mercy or compassion.
PITILESSNESS, n. Unmercifulness; insensibility to the distresses of others.
PITMAN, n. The man that stands in a pit when sawing timber with another man who stands above.
PIT-SAW, n. A large saw used in dividing timber, and used by two men, one of whom stands in a pit below.
PITTANCE, n. [The word signifies primarily, a portion of food allowed to a monk. The Spanish has pitar, to distribute allowances of meat, and pitancero, a person who distributes allowances, or a friar who lives on charity.]
1. An allowance of meat in a monastery.
2. A very small portion allowed or assigned.
3. A very small quantity.
PITUITARY, a. [L. pituita, phlegm, rheum; Gr. to spit.]
That secretes phlegm or mucus; as the pituitary membrane.
The pituitary gland is a small oval body on the lower side of the brain, supposed by the ancients to secrete the mucus of the nostrils.
PITUITE, n. [L. pituita.] Mucus.
PITUITOUS, a. [L. pituitosus.] Consisting of mucus, or resembling it in qualities.
PITY, n. [The Latin, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages unite pity and piety in the same word, and the word may be from the root of compassion; L. patior, to suffer.]
1. The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering.
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord. Proverbs 19:17.
In Scripture however, the word pity usually includes compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence, and not simply a fellow feeling of distress.
Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable.
2. The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted.
What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!
That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it.
In this sense, the word has a plural. It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.
PITY, v.t. To feel pain or grief for one in distress; to have sympathy for; to compassionate; to have tender feelings for one, excited by his unhappiness.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psalm 103:13.
Taught by that power who pities me,
I learn to pity them.
PITY, v.i. To be compassionate; to exercise pity.
I will not pity nor spare, nor have mercy. Jeremiah 13:14.
[But this may be considered as an elliptical phrase.]
PIVOT, n. A pin on which any thing turns.
PIX, n. [L. pyxis.] A little box or chest in which the consecrated host is kept in Roman catholic countries.
1. A box used for the trial of gold and silver coin.
PIZZLE, n. In certain quadrupeds, the part which is official to generation and the discharge of urine.
PLACABILITY, PLACABLENESS, n. [from placable.] The quality of being appeasable; susceptibility of being pacified.
PLACABLE, a. [L. placabilis, from placo, to pacify; probably formed on the root of lay. See Please.]
That may be appeased or pacified; appeasable; admitting its passions or irritations to be allayed; willing to forgive.
Methought I saw him placable and mild.
PLACARD, n. Properly, a written or printed paper posted in a public place. It seems to have been formerly the name of an edict, proclamation or manifesto issued by authority, but this sense is, I believe, seldom or never annexed to the word. A placard now is an advertisement, or a libel, or a paper intended to censure public or private characters or public measures, posted in a public place. In the case of libels or papers intended to censure public or private characters, or the measures of government, these papers are usually pasted up at night for secrecy.
PLACATE, v.t. [L. placo, to appease.]
To appease or pacify; to conciliate.
PLACE, n.
1. A particular portion of space of indefinite extent, occupied or intended to be occupied by any person or thing, and considered as the space where a person or thing does or may rest or has rested, as distinct from space in general.
Look from the place where thou art. Genesis 13:14.
The place where thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:5.
Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours. Deuteronomy 11:24.
David’s place was empty. 1 Samuel 20:25, 27.
2. Any portion of space, as distinct from space in general.
Enlargement and deliverance shall arise to the Jews from another place. Esther 4:14.
3. Local existence.
From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Revelation 20:11.
4. Separate room or apartment.
His catalogue had an especial place for sequestered divines.
5. Seat; residence; mansion.
The Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. John 11:48.
6. A portion or passage of writing or of a book.
The place of the Scripture which he read was this. Acts 8:32.
7. Point or degree in order of proceeding; as in the first place; in the second place; in the last place. Hence,
8. Rank; order of priority, dignity or importance. He holds the first place in society, or in the affections of the people.
9. Office, employment; official station. The man has a place under the government.
Do you your office, or give up your place.
10. Ground; room.
There is no place of doubting but that it is the very same.
11. Station in life; calling; occupation; condition. All, in their several places, perform their duty.
12. A city, a town; a village. In what place does he reside? He arrived at this place in the mail coach. Genesis 18:24, 26.
13. In military affairs, a fortified town or post; a fortress; a fort; as a strong place; a place easily defended. The place was taken by assault.
14. A country; a kingdom. England is the place of his birth.
15. Space in general.
But she all place within herself confines.
16. Room; stead; with the sense of substitution.
And Joseph said unto them, fear not; for am I in the place of God? Genesis 50:19.
17. Room; kind reception.
My word hath no place in you. John 8:37.
18. The place of the moon, in astronomy, is the part of its orbit where it is found at any given time. The place of the sun or a star, is the sign and degree of the zodiac, in which it is at any given time, or the degree of the ecliptic, reckoning from the beginning of Aries, which the star’s circle of longitude cuts, and therefore coincides with the longitude of the sun or star.
To take place, to come; to happen; to come into actual existence or operation; as when we say, this or that event will or will not take place. The perfect exemption of man from calamity can never take place in this state of existence.
1. To take the precedence or priority.
To take the place, but sometimes to take place, omitting the article, is to occupy the place or station of another.
To have place, to have a station, room or seat. Such desires can have no place in a good heart.
1. To have actual existence.
To give place, to make room or way. Give place to your superiors.
1. To give room; to give advantage; to yield to the influence of; to listen to.
Neither give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:27.
2. To give way; to yield to and suffer to pass away.
High place, in Scripture, a mount on which sacrifices were offered.
PLACE, v.t. To put or set in a particular part of space, or in a particular part of the earth, or in something on its surface; to locate; as, to place a house by the side of a stream; to place a book on a shelf; to place a body of cavalry on each flank of any army.
1. To appoint, set, induct or establish in an office.
Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, etc. Exodus 18:21.
It is a high moral duty of sovereigns and supreme magistrates and councils, to place in office men of unquestionable virtue and talents.
2. To put or set in any particular rank, state or condition. Some men are placed in a condition of rank and opulence, others are placed in low or narrow circumstances; but in whatever sphere men are placed, contentment will insure to them a large portion of happiness.
3. To set; to fix; as, to place one’s affections on an object; to place confidence in a friend.
4. To put; to invest; as, to place money in the funds or in a bank.
5. To put out at interest; to lend; as, to place money in good hands or in good security.
PLACED, pp. Set; fixed; located; established.
PLACE-MAN, n. One that has an office under a government.
PLACENTA, n. [L.]
1. In anatomy, the substance that connects the fetus to the womb, a soft roundish mass or cake by which the circulation is carried on between the parent and the fetus.
2. The part of a plant or fruit to which the seeds are attached.
PLACENTAL, a. Pertaining to the placenta.
PLACENTATION, n. In botany, the disposition of the cotyledons or lobes in the vegetation or germination of seeds.
PLACER, n. One who places, locates or sets.
PLACID, a. [L. placidus, from placo, to appease.]
1. Gentle; quiet; undisturbed; equable; as a placid motion of the spirits.
2. Serene; mild; unruffled; indicating peace of mind; as a placid countenance or smile.
3. Calm; tranquil; serene; not stormy; as a placid sky.
4. Calm; quiet; unruffled; as a placid stream.
PLACIDLY, adv. Mildly; calmly; quietly; without disturbance or passion.
PLACIDNESS, n. Calmness; quiet; tranquillity; unruffled state.
1. Mildness; gentleness; sweetness of disposition.
PLACIT, n. [L. placitum, that which pleases, a decree, from placeo, to please.] A decree or determination. [Not in use.]
PLACKET, n. A petticoat. If this is the sense of the word in Shakespeare, it is a derivative. The word signifies the opening of the garment; but it is nearly or wholly obsolete.
PLAGIARISM, n. [from plagiary.] The act of purloining another man’s literary works, or introducing passages from another man’s writings and putting them off as one’s own; literary theft.
PLAGIARIST, n. One that purloins the writings of another and puts them off as his own.
PLAGIARY, n. [L. plagium, a kidnapping, probably from plagoe, nets, toils, that which is layed or spread, from the root of Eng. lay. The L. plaga, a stroke, is the same word differently applied, a laying on.]
1. A thief in literature; one that purloins another’s writings and offers them to the public as his own.
2. The crime of literary theft. [Not used.]
PLAGIARY, a. Stealing men; kidnapping. [Not used.]
1. Practicing literary theft.
PLAGUE, n. plag. [L. plaga, a stroke; Gr. See Lick and Lay. The primary sense is a stroke or striking. So afflict is from the root of flog, and probably of the same family as plague.]
1. Any thing troublesome or vexatious; but in this sense, applied to the vexations we suffer from men, and not to the unavoidable evils inflicted on us by Divine Providence. The application of the word to the latter, would now be irreverent and reproachful.
2. A pestilential disease; an acute, malignant and contagious disease that often prevails in Egypt, Syria and Turkey, and has at times infected the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality.
3. A state of misery. 1 Kings 8:38.
4. Any great natural evil or calamity; as the ten plagues of Egypt.
PLAGUE, v.t. plag.
1. To infest with disease, calamity or natural evil of any kind.
Thus were they plagued
And worn with famine.
2. To vex; to tease; to harass; to trouble; to embarrass; a very general and indefinite signification.
If her nature be so,
That she will plague the man that loves her most--
PLAGUEFUL, a. Abounding with plagues; infected with plagues.
PLAGUILY, adv. Vexatiously; in a manner to vex, harass or embarrass; greatly; horribly. [In vulgar use.]
PLAGUY, a. Vexatious; troublesome; tormenting. [Vulgar.]
PLAICE, PLAISE, n. A fish of the genus Pleuronectes, growing to the size of eight or ten pounds or more. This fish is more flat and square than the halibut.
PLAID, PLAD, n. A striped or variegated cloth worn by the highlanders in Scotland. It is a narrow woolen stuff worn round the waist or on the shoulders, reaching to the knees, and in cold weather to the feet. It is worn by both sexes.
PLAIN, a. [L. planus; splendor. Gr. to wander.]
1. Smooth; even; level; flat; without elevations and depressions; not rough; as plain ground or land; a plain surface. In this sense, in philosophical writings, it is written plane.
2. Open; clear.
Our troops beat an army in plain fight and open field.
3. Void of ornament; simple; as a plain dress.
Plain without pomp, and rich without a show.
4. Artless; simple; unlearned; without disguise, cunning or affectation; without refinement; as men of the plainer sort. Genesis 25:27.
Plain but pious christians--
5. Artless; simple; unaffected; unembellished; as a plain tale or narration.
6. Honestly undisguised; open; frank; sincere; unreserved. I will tell you the plain truth.
Give me leave to be plain with you.
7. Mere; bare; as a plain knave or fool.
8. Evident to the understanding; clear; manifest; not obscure; as plain words or language; a plain difference; a plain argument.
It is plain in the history, that Esau was never subject to Jacob.
9. Not much varied by modulations; as a plain song or tune.
10. Not high seasoned; not rich; not luxuriously dressed; as a plain diet.
11. Not ornamented with figures; as plain muslin.
12. Not dyed.
13. Not difficult; not embarrassing; as a plain case in law.
14. Easily seen or discovered; not obscure or difficult to be found; as a plain road or path. Our coarse is very plain. Psalm 27:11.
A plain or plane figure, in geometry, is a uniform surface, from every point of whose perimeter right lines may be drawn to every other point in the same.
A plain figure, in geometry, is a surface in which, if any two points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies wholly in that surface.
A plain angle, is one contained under two lines or surfaces, in contradistinction to a solid angle.
PLAIN, adv. Not obscurely; in a manner to be easily understood.
1. Distinctly; articulately; as, to speak plain. Mark 7:35.
2. With simplicity; artlessly; bluntly.
PLAIN, n.
1. Level land; usually, an open field with an even surface, or a surface little varied by inequalities; as all the plain of Jordan. Genesis 13:10-11.
2. Field of battle.
PLAIN, v.t. To level; to make plain or even on the surface.
PLAIN, v.i. [L. plango.] To lament or wail. [Not used.] [See Complain.]
PLAIN-DEALING, a. [plain and deal.] Dealing or communicating with frankness and sincerity; honest; open; speaking and acting without art; as a plain-dealing man.
PLAIN-DEALING, n. A speaking or communicating with openness and sincerity; management without art, stratagem or disguise; sincerity.
PLAIN-HEARTED, a. Having a sincere heart; communicating without art, reserve or hypocrisy; of a frank disposition.
PLAIN-HEARTEDNESS, n. Frankness of disposition; sincerity.
PLAINLY, adv. With a level surface. [Little used.]
1. Without cunning or disguise.
2. Without ornament or artificial embellishment; as, to be plainly clad.
3. Frankly; honestly; sincerely; as, deal plainly with me.
4. In earnest; fairly.
5. In a manner to be easily seen or comprehended.
Thou shalt write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly. Deuteronomy 27:8.
6. Evidently; clearly; not obscurely. The doctrines of grace are plainly taught in the Scriptures.
PLAINNESS, n. Levelness; evenness or surface.
1. Want of ornament; want of artificial show.
So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.
2. Openness; rough, blunt or unrefined frankness.
Your plainness and your shortness please me well.
3. Artlessness; simplicity; candor; as unthinking plainness.
4. Clearness; openness; sincerity.
Seeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. 2 Corinthians 3:12.
PLAIN-SONG, n. The plain unvaried chant of churches; so called in contradistinction from the prick-song, or variegated music sung by note.
PLAIN-SPOKEN, a. Speaking with plain, unreserved sincerity.
PLAINT, n. [L. plango, to strike, to beat, to lament, whence complaint; Gr. to strike, from the root disused, whence, a stroke; L. plaga, Eng. plague.]
1. Lamentation; complaint; audible expression of sorrow.
From inward grief
His bursting passion into plaints thus pour’d.
2. Complaint; representation made of injury or wrong done.
There are three just grounds of war with Spain; one of plaints; two upon defense.
3. In law, a private memorial tendered to a court, in which the person sets forth his cause of action.
4. In law, a complaint; a formal accusation exhibited by a private person against an offender for a breach of law or a public offense.
PLAINTFUL, a. Complaining; expressing sorrow with an audible voice; as my plaintful tongue.
PLAINTIF, n. In law, the person who commences a suit before a tribunal, for the recovery of a claim; opposed to defendant.
[Prior uses this word as an adjective, in the French sense, for plaintive, but the use is not authorized.]
PLAINTIVE, a. Lamenting; complaining; expressive of sorrow; as a plaintive sound or song.
1. Complaining; expressing sorrow or grief; repining.
To sooth the sorrows of her plaintive son.
PLAINTIVELY ,adv. In a manner expressive of grief.
PLAINTIVENESS, n. The quality or state of expressing grief.
PLAINTLESS, a. Without complaint; unrepining.
PLAIN-WORK, n. Plain needlework, as distinguished from embroidery.
PLAIT, n. [Gr. to twist.]
1. A fold; a doubling; as of cloth.
It is very difficult to trace out the figure of a vest through all the plaits and folding of the drapery.
2. A braid of hair; a tress.
PLAIT, v.t. To fold; to double in narrow streaks; as, to plait a gown or a sleeve.
1. To braid; to interweave strands; as, to plait the hair.
2. To entangle; to involve.
PLAITED, pp. Folded; braided; interwoven.
PLAITER, n. One that plaits or braids.
PLAITING, ppr. Folding; doubling; braiding.
PLAN, n.
1. A draught or form; properly, the representation of any thing drawn on a plane, as a map or chart, which is a representation of some portion of land or water. But the word is applied particularly to the model of a building, showing the form, extent and divisions in miniature, and it may be applied to the draught or representation of any projected work on paper or on a plain surface; as the plan of a town or city, or of a harbor or fort. The form of a machine in miniature, is called a model.
2. A scheme devised; a project; the form of something to be done existing in the mind, with the several parts adjusted in idea, expressed in words or committed to writing; as the plan of a constitution of government; the plan of a treaty; the plan of an expedition.
PLAN, v.t. To form a draught or representation of any intended work.
1. To scheme; to devise; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country; to plan a reduction of taxes or of the national debt.
PLANARY, a. Pertaining to a plane.
PLANCH, v.t. [See Plank.] To plank; to cover with planks or boards.
PLANCHED, pp. Covered or made of planks or boards.
PLANCHER, n. A floor.
PLANCHET, n. [See Plank.] A flat piece of metal or coin.
PLANCHING, n. The laying of floors in a building; also, a floor of boards or planks.
PLANE, n. [from L. planus. See Plain.] In geometry, an even or level surface, like plain in popular language.
1. In astronomy, an imaginary surface supposed to pass through any of the curves described on the celestial sphere; as the plane of the ecliptic; the plane of a planet’s orbit; the plane of a great circle.
2. In mechanics. [See Plain figure.]
3. In joinery and cabinet work, an instrument consisting of a smooth piece of wood, with an aperture, through which passes obliquely a piece of edged steel or chisel, used in paring or smoothing boards or wood of any kind.
PLANE, v.t. To make smooth; to pare off the inequalities of the surface of a board or other piece of wood by the use of a plane.
1. To free from inequalities of surface.
PLANED, pp. Made smooth with a plane; leveled.
PLANET, n. [L. planeta; Gr. wandering, to wander, allied to L. planus. See Plant.] A celestial body which revolves about the sun or other center, or a body revolving about another planet as its center. The planets which revolve about the sun as their center, are called primary planets; those which revolve about other planets as their center, and with them revolve about the sun, are called secondary planets, satellites or moons. The primary planets are named Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell. Four smaller planets, denominated by some, asteroids, namely, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, have recently been discovered between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Herschell, being without the earth’s orbit, are sometimes called the superior planets; Venus and Mercury, being within the earth’s orbit, are called inferior planets. The planets are opake bodies which receive their light from the sun. They are so named from their motion or revolution, in distinction from the fixed stars, and are distinguished from the latter by their not twinkling.
PLANETARIUM, n. An astronomical machine which, by the movement of its parts, represents the motions and orbits of the planets, agreeable to the Copernican system.
PLANETARY, a. Pertaining to the planets; as planetary inhabitants; planetary motions.
1. Consisting of planets; as a planetary system.
2. Under the dominion or influence of a planet; as a planetary hour. [Astrology.]
3. Produced by planets; as planetary plague or influence.
4. Having the nature of a planet; erratic or revolving.
Planetary days, the days of the week as shared among the planets, each having its day, as we name the days of the week after the planets.
PLANETED, a. Belonging to planets.
PLANETICAL, a. Pertaining to planets. [Not used.]
PLANE-TREE, n. [L. platanus.] A tree of the genus Platanus. The oriental plane-tree is a native of Asia; it rises with a straight smooth branching stem to a great highth, with palmated leaves and long pendulous peduncles, sustaining several heads of small close sitting flowers. The seeds are downy, and collected into round, rough, hard balls. The occidental plane-tree, which grows to a great highth, is a native of N. America; it is called also button-wood.
PLANET-STRUCK, a. Affected by the influence of planets; blasted.
PLANIFOLIOUS, a. [L. planus, plain, and folium, leaf.]
In botany, a planifolious flower is one made up of plain leaves, set together in circular rows round the center. [See Planipetalous.]