Pellagra - Pencraft

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Pellagra (pĕllȧgrȧ), n. [It. pelle skin + agro rough.] (Med.) An affection of the skin, characterized by redness, especially in exposed areas, scaling and shedding of the skin, and accompanied with severe gastrointestinal disturbance and nervous symptoms. It is due to a deficiency of niacin (vitamin B3; nicotinic acid) and protein in the diet, and may be caused by malnutrition, or, in some cases, by a heavy dependence on maize for food. It was at one time (ca. 1890) endemic in Northern Italy, and was called Alpine scurvy. It may also be caused by alcoholism or diease causing an impairment of nutrition. It is also called St. Ignatius's itch, maidism, mal de la rosa, mal rosso, and psychoneurosis maidica. A variety of pellagra seen in children is called infantile pellagra or kwashiorkor. [Stedman]
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Pellagrin (pĕllȧgrĭn), n. One who is afficted with pellagra. Chambers's Encyc.
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Pellagrous (?), a. [It. pellagroso: cf. F. pellagreux.] (Med.) Pertaining to, or affected with, or attendant on, pellagra; as, pellagrous insanity.
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Pellet (pĕllĕt), n. [F. pelote, LL. pelota, pilota, fr. L. pila a ball. Cf. .] 1. A little ball; as, a pellet of wax on paper.
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2. A bullet; a ball for firearms. [Obs.] Bacon.
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As swift as a pellet out of a gun. Chaucer.
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Coloq. Pellet gun a gun that fires small pellets, less than 3 mm diameter, usually made of metal. -- Coloq. Pellet molding (Arch.), a narrow band ornamented with smalt, flat disks.
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Pellet, v. t. To form into small balls; to pelletize. [Obs.] Shak.
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Pelletise, Pelletize (pĕllĕtīz), v. t. To form into small balls; as, to pelletize ore. The spelling pelletise is mostly British.
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Pelleted, a. Made of, or like, pellets; furnished with pellets. [R.] “This pelleted storm.” Shak.
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Pellibranchiata (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. pellis garment + branchia a gill.] (Zoöl.) A division of Nudibranchiata, in which the mantle itself serves as a gill.
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Pellicle (?), n. [L. pellicula, dim. of pellis skin: cf. F. pellicule.] 1. A thin skin or film.
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2. (Chem.) A thin film formed on the surface of an evaporating solution.
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Pellicular (?), a. Of or pertaining to a pellicle. Henslow.
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Pellile (?), n. (Zoöl.) The redshank; -- so called from its note. [Prov. Eng.]
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Pellitory (?), n. [OE. paritorie, OF. paritoire, F. pariétaire; (cf. It. & Sp. parietaria), L. parietaria the parietary, or pellitory, the wall plant, fr. parietarius belonging to the walls, fr. paries, parietis a wall. Cf. .] (Bot.) The common name of the several species of the genus Parietaria, low, harmless weeds of the Nettle family; -- also called wall pellitory, and lichwort.
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☞ Parietaria officinalis is common on old walls in Europe; Parietaria pennsylvanica is found in the United States; and six or seven more species are found near the Mediterranean, or in the Orient.
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Pellitory, n. [Sp. pelitre, fr. L. pyrethrum. See .] (Bot.) (a) A composite plant (Anacyclus Pyrethrum) of the Mediterranean region, having finely divided leaves and whitish flowers. The root is the officinal pellitory, and is used as an irritant and sialogogue. Called also bertram, and pellitory of Spain. (b) The feverfew (Chrysanthemum Parthenium); -- so called because it resembles the above.
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Pell-mell (�), n. See .
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Pellmell, adv. [F. pêle-mêle, prob. fr. pelle a shovel + mêler to mix, as when different kinds of grain are heaped up and mixed with a shovel. See shovel, .] In utter confusion; with confused violence. “Men, horses, chariots, crowded pellmell.” Milton.
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Pellucid (?), a. [L. pellucidus; per (see ) + lucidus clear, bright: cf. F. pellucide.] Transparent; clear; limpid; translucent; not opaque. “Pellucid crystal.” Dr. H. More. “Pellucid streams.” Wordsworth.
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{ Pellucidity (?), Pellucidness (?), } n. [L. pelluciditas.] The quality or state of being pellucid; transparency; translucency; clearness; as, the pellucidity of the air. Locke.
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Pellucidly, adv. In a pellucid manner.
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Pelma (?), n.; pl. Pelmata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. pelma.] (Zoöl.) The under surface of the foot.
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Pelopium (?), n. [NL., fr. L. Pelops, brother of Niobe, Gr. �.] (Chem.) A supposed new metal found in columbite, afterwards shown to be identical with columbium, or niobium.
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Peloponnesian (?), a. [L. Peloponnesius, fr. Peloponnesus, Gr. �, lit., the Island of Pelops; �, �, Pelops + � an island.] Of or pertaining to the Peloponnesus, or southern peninsula of Greece. -- n. A native or an inhabitant of the Peloponnesus.
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Peloponnesus prop. n. the southern peninsula of Greece.
Syn. -- Peloponnese, Peloponnesian Peninsula.
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Peloria (?), n. [NL., from Gr. � monstrous.] (Bot.) Abnormal regularity; the state of certain flowers, which, being naturally irregular, have become regular through a symmetrical repetition of the special irregularity.
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Peloric (?), a. (Bot.) Abnormally regular or symmetrical. Darwin.
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Pelorus (?), n. [After Pelorus, said to have been Hannibal's pilot when he left Italy.] (Navig.) An instrument similar to a mariner's compass, but without magnetic needles, and having two sight vanes by which bearings are taken, esp. such as cannot be taken by the compass.
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Pelota (?), n. [Sp., lit., ball.] A Basque, Spanish, and Spanish-American game played in a court, in which a ball is struck with a wickerwork racket.
Syn. -- jai alai.
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Pelotage (?), n. [F.] Packs or bales of Spanish wool.
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Pelt (pĕlt), n. [Cf. G. pelz a pelt, fur, fr. OF. pelice, F. pelisse (see ); or perh. shortened fr. peltry.] 1. The skin of a beast with the hair on; a raw or undressed hide; a skin preserved with the hairy or woolly covering on it. See 4th . Sir T. Browne.
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Raw pelts clapped about them for their clothes. Fuller.
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2. The human skin. [Jocose] Dryden.
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3. (Falconry) The body of any quarry killed by the hawk.
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Coloq. Pelt rot , a disease affecting the hair or wool of a beast.
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Pelt, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pelted; p. pr. & vb. n. Pelting.] [OE. pelten, pulten, pilten, to thrust, throw, strike; cf. L. pultare, equiv. to pulsare (v. freq. fr. pellere to drive), and E. pulse a beating.] 1. To strike with something thrown or driven; to assail with pellets or missiles, as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.
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The chidden billows seem to pelt the clouds. Shak.
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2. To throw; to use as a missile.
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My Phillis me with pelted apples plies. Dryden.
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Pelt, v. i. 1. To throw missiles. Shak.
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2. To throw out words. [Obs.]
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Another smothered seems to pelt and swear. Shak.
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Pelt, n. A blow or stroke from something thrown.
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Pelta (?), n.; pl. Peltæ. [L., a shield, fr. Gr. pelth.] 1. (Antiq.) A small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptic form, or crescent-shaped.
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2. (Bot.) A flat apothecium having no rim.
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{ Peltate (?), Peltated (?), } a. [Cf. F. pelté. See .] Shield-shaped; scutiform; (Bot.) having the stem or support attached to the lower surface, instead of at the base or margin; -- said of a leaf or other organ. -- Peltately (#), adv.
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Pelter (?), n. One who pelts.
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Pelter (?), n. A pinchpenny; a mean, sordid person; a miser; a skinflint. [Obs.] “Let such pelters prate.” Gascoigne.
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Peltier effect (?). [After Jean C. A. Peltier, French physicist, the discoverer.] (Elec.) The production or absorption of heat at the junction of two metals on the passage of a current. Heat generated by the passage of the current in one direction will be absorbed if the current is reversed.
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Peltier's cross (?). (Elec.) A cross formed of two strips of different metals, to illustrate the Peltier effect.
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Peltiform (?), a. [Pelta + -form.] Shieldlike, with the outline nearly circular; peltate. Henslow.
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Pelting (?), a. Mean; paltry. [Obs.] Shak.
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Pelton wheel (?). (Mech.) A form of impulse turbine or water wheel, consisting of a row of double cup-shaped buckets arranged round the rim of a wheel and actuated by one or more jets of water playing into the cups at high velocity.
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Peltry (?), n. [F. pelleterie peltry, furriery, fr. pelletier a furrier, fr. OF. pel skin, F. peau, L. pelis. See a skin, , n., a skin.] Pelts or skins, collectively; skins with the fur on them; furs.
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Peltryware (?), n. Peltry. [Obs.]
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Peludo (?), n. [Sp. peludo hairy.] (Zoöl.) The South American hairy armadillo (Dasypus villosus).
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Pelure (?), n. [F., lit., peel, fr. peler to peel.] A crisp, hard, thin paper, sometimes used for postage stamps.
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Pelusiac (?), a. [L. Pelusiacus.] Of or pertaining to Pelusium, an ancient city of Egypt; as, the Pelusiac (or former eastern) outlet of the Nile.
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Pelvic (?), a. Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the pelvis; as, pelvic cellulitis.
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Coloq. Pelvic arch , or Coloq. Pelvic girdle (Anat.), the two or more bony or cartilaginous pieces of the vertebrate skeleton to which the hind limbs are articulated. When fully ossified, the arch usually consists of three principal bones on each side, the ilium, ischium, and pubis, which are often closely united in the adult, forming the innominate bone. See Innominate bone, under .
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Pelvimeter (?), n. [Pelvis + -meter.: cf. F. pelvimètre.] An instrument for measuring the dimensions of the pelvis. Coxe.
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Pelvimetry (?), n. [Pelvis + -metry.] (Med.) The measurement of the pelvis.
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Pelvis (?), n. [L., a basin, laver; cf. Gr. �, �, bowl.] 1. (Anat.) The pelvic arch, or the pelvic arch together with the sacrum. See Pelvic arch, under , and .
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2. (Zoöl.) The calyx of a crinoid.
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Coloq. Pelvis of the kidney (Anat.), the basinlike cavity into which the ureter expands as it joins the kidney.
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pelycosaur n. 1. A large primitive reptile having a tall spinal sail; of the Permian or late Paleozoic in Europe and North America.
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Pelycosauria prop. n. 1. An order of extinct reptiles including edaphosaurus and dimetrodon.
Syn. -- order Pelycosauria.
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Pembroke n. A breed of dog, the smaller and straight-legged variety of Welsh corgi having pointed ears and a short tail.
Syn. -- Pembroke Welsh corgi.
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Pembroke table (?). [From Pembroke, a town and shire in Wales.] A style of four-legged drop-leaf table in vogue in England, chiefly in the later Georgian period.
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The characteristic which gives a table the name of Pembroke consists in the drop leaves, which are held up, when the table is open, by brackets which turn under the top. F. C. Morse.
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Pemmican (?), n. [Written also pemican.] 1. Among the North American Indians, meat cut in thin slices, divested of fat, and dried in the sun.
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Then on pemican they feasted. Longfellow.
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2. Meat, without the fat, cut in thin slices, dried in the sun, pounded, then mixed with melted fat and sometimes dried fruit, and compressed into cakes or in bags. It contains much nutriment in small compass, and is of great use in long voyages of exploration.
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3. A treatise of much thought in little compass.
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Pemphigus (?), n. [Nl., fr. Gr. �, �, a bubble.] (Med.) A somewhat rare skin disease, characterized by the development of blebs upon different parts of the body. Quain.
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Pen (pĕn), n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.] 1. A feather. [Obs.] Spenser.
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2. A wing. [Obs.] Milton.
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3. An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving.
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Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock. Job xix. 24.
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4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. “Those learned pens.” Fuller.
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5. (Zoöl.) The internal shell of a squid.
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6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zoöl.) A female swan; -- contrasted with cob, the male swan. [Prov. Eng.]
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Coloq. Bow pen . See . -- Coloq. Dotting pen , a pen for drawing dotted lines. -- Coloq. Drawing pen , or Coloq. Ruling pen , a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. -- Coloq. Fountain pen , Coloq. Geometric pen . See under , and . -- Coloq. Music pen , a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff. -- Coloq. Pen and ink , or Coloq. pen-and-ink , executed or done with a pen and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch. -- Coloq. Pen feather . A pin feather. [Obs.] -- Coloq. Pen name . See under . -- Coloq. Sea pen (Zoöl.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen.]
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Pen, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Penning (?).] To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet. “A prayer elaborately penned.” Milton.
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Pen, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penned (?) or Pent (�); p. pr. & vb. n. Penning.] [OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on-pennan to unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig. meaning, to fasten with a peg.See , n. & v.] To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose. “Away with her, and pen her up.” Shak.
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Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve. Milton.
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Pen, n. 1. [From to shut in.] A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs.
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My father stole two geese out of a pen. Shak.
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2. [From penitentiary.] A penitentiary[6]; a prison. [Slang]
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Penal (?), a. [L. poenalis, fr. poena punishment: cf. F. pénal. See .] Of or pertaining to punishment, to penalties, or to crimes and offenses; pertaining to criminal jurisprudence: as: (a) Enacting or threatening punishment; as, a penal statue; the penal code. (b) Incurring punishment; subject to a penalty; as, a penal act or offense. (c) Inflicted as punishment; used as a means of punishment; as, a penal colony or settlement. “Adamantine chains and penal fire.” Milton.
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Coloq. Penal code (Law), a code of laws concerning crimes and offenses and their punishment. -- Coloq. Penal laws , Coloq. Penal statutes (Law), laws prohibiting certain acts, and imposing penalties for committing them. -- Coloq. Penal servitude , imprisonment with hard labor, in a prison, in lieu of transportation. [Great Brit.] -- Coloq. Penal suit , Coloq. Penal action (Law), a suit for penalties.
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Penality (?), n. [Cf. LL. poenalitas. See .] The quality or state of being penal; liability to punishment. Sir T. Browne.
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penalization n. The act of punishing.
Syn. -- punishment, penalty.
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Penalize (?), v. t. 1. To make penal.
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2. (Sport.) To put a penalty on. See , 3. [Eng.]
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penalized adj. Subjected to a penalty. [Narrower terms: fined, mulcted]
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Penally (?), adv. In a penal manner.
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Penalty (?), n.; pl. Penalties (#). [F. pénalité. See .] 1. Penal retribution; punishment for crime or offense; the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense, or trespass.
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Death is the penalty imposed. Milton.
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2. The suffering, or the sum to be forfeited, to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of nonfulfillment of stipulations; forfeiture; fine.
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The penalty and forfeit of my bond. Shak.
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3. A handicap. [Sporting Cant]
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☞ The term penalty is in law mostly applied to a pecuniary punishment.
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Coloq. Bill of pains and penalties . See under . -- Coloq. On penalty of , or Coloq. Under penalty of , on pain of; with exposure to the penalty of, in case of transgression.
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Penance (?), n. [OF. penance, peneance, L. paenitentia repentance. See .] 1. Repentance. [Obs.] Wyclif (Luke xv. 7).
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2. Pain; sorrow; suffering. [Obs.] “Joy or penance he feeleth none.” Chaucer.
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3. (Eccl.) A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression, imposed by a confessor or other ecclesiastical authority. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Schaff-Herzog Encyc.
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And bitter penance, with an iron whip. Spenser.
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Quoth he, “The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.” Coleridge.
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4. Hence: Any act performed by a person to atone for an offense to another; an act of atonement. [Colloq.]
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Penance, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penanced (?).] To impose penance; to punish. “Some penanced lady elf.” Keats.
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Penanceless, a. Free from penance. [R.]
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pen-and-ink n. A drawing executed with pen and ink.
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Penang lawyer (?). [Prob. fr. Malay pīnang līar.] A kind of walking stick made from the stem of an East Asiatic palm (Licuala acutifida).
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Penang nut (?). [From the native name.] (Bot.) The betel nut. Balfour (Cyc. of India).
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Penannular (?), a. [L. pene, paene, almost + E. annular.] Nearly annular; having nearly the form of a ring. “Penannular relics.” D. Wilson.
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Penary (?), a. Penal. [Obs.] Gauden.
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Penates (?), n. pl. [L.] (Rom. Antiq.) The household gods of the ancient Romans. They presided over the home and the family hearth. See .
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Penaunt (?), n. [OF. penant, peneant. See .] A penitent. [Obs.] Chaucer.
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Pence (?), n., pl. of . See .
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Pencel (?), n. [See .] A small, narrow flag or streamer borne at the top of a lance; -- called also pennoncel. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. Chaucer.
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Penchant (?), n. [F., fr. pencher to bend, fr. (assumed) LL. pendicare, L. pendere. See .] Inclination; decided taste; bias; as, a penchant for art.
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Penchant (?), n. (Card Playing) A game like bézique, or, in the game, any queen and jack of different suits held together.
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Penchute (?), n. See .
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Pencil (?), n. [OF. pincel, F. pinceau, L. penicillum, penicillus, equiv. to peniculus, dim. of penis a tail. Cf. .] 1. A small, fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters for laying on colors.
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With subtile pencil depainted was this storie. Chaucer.
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2. A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, graphite, colored chalk, slate etc., or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, -- used for drawing or writing. See .
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3. Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.
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4. (Opt.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
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5. (Geom.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point.
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6. (Med.) A small medicated bougie.
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Coloq. Pencil case , a holder for pencil lead. -- Coloq. Pencil flower (Bot.), an American perennial leguminous herb (Stylosanthes elatior). -- Coloq. Pencil lead , a slender rod of black lead, or the like, adapted for insertion in a holder.
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Pencil, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penciled (?) or Pencilled; p. pr. & vb. n. Penciling or Pencilling.] To write or mark with a pencil; to paint or to draw. Cowper.
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Where nature pencils butterflies on flowers. Harte.
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Coloq. pencil in to write (a tentative appoinment) on an appointment calendar, so as to reserve time, but to allow the appointment to be readily canceled and replaced with another; -- also used figuratively, with other means of recording appointments. The notion being that something written in pencil can be more easily changed than something written in ink. The phrase is commonly used in the early stages of organizing a meeting of multiple persons, before it is known whether all attendees will be free at the suggested time.
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Penciled (?), a. [Written also pencilled.] 1. Painted, drawn, sketched, or marked with a pencil.
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2. Radiated; having pencils of rays.
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3. (Nat. Hist.) Marked with parallel or radiating lines.
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Penciling (?), n. [Written also pencilling.] 1. The work of the pencil or bruch; as, delicate penciling in a picture.
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2. (Brickwork) Lines of white or black paint drawn along a mortar joint in a brick wall. Knight.
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{ Pencillate (?), Pencillated (?), } a. Shaped like a pencil; penicillate.
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Pencraft (?), n. 1. Penmanship; skill in writing; chirography.
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2. The art of composing or writing; authorship.
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I would not give a groat for that person's knowledge in pencraft. Sterne.
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