Chapter 36

2. (Mining & Mech.) A heavy iron tool, curved and sometimes pointed at both ends, wielded by means of a wooden handle inserted in the middle, -- used by quarrymen, roadmakers, etc.; also, a pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

3. A pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler. [Obs.] "Take down my buckler . . . and grind the pick on 't." Beau. & Fl.

4. Choice; right of selection; as, to have one's pick.

France and Russia have the pick of our stables.

Ld. Lytton.

5. That which would be picked or chosen first; the best; as, the pick of the flock.

6. (Print.) A particle of ink or paper imbedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and occasioning a spot on a printed sheet. MacKellar.

7. (Painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.

8. (Weawing) The blow which drives the shuttle, -- the rate of speed of a loom being reckoned as so many picks per minute; hence, in describing the fineness of a fabric, a weft thread; as, so many picks to an inch.

Pick dressing (Arch.), in cut stonework, a facing made by a pointed tool, leaving the surface in little pits or depressions. -- Pick hammer, a pick with one end sharp and the other blunt, used by miners.

Pick"a*back` (?), adv. On the back or shoulders; as, to ride pickback. [Written also pickapack, pickback, and pickpack.]

A woman stooping to take a child pickaback.

R,Jefferies.

Pick"a*nin`ny (?), n.; pl. Pickaninnies (#). [Cf. Sp. pequeÒo little, young.] A small child; especially, a negro or mulatto infant. [U.S. & West Indies]

Pick"a*pack` (?), adv. Pickaback.

{ Pick"ax`, Pick"axe` } (?), n. [A corruption of OE. pikois, pikeis, F. picois, fr. pic. See Pick, n.] A pick with a point at one end, a transverse edge or blade at the other, and a handle inserted at the middle; a hammer with a flattened end for driving wedges and a pointed end for piercing as it strikes. Shak.

Pick"back` (?), adv. On the back.

Pick"ed (?), a. 1. Pointed; sharp. "Picked and polished." Chapman.

Let the stake be made picked at the top.

Mortimer.

2. (Zoˆl.) Having a pike or spine on the back; -- said of certain fishes.

3. Carefully selected; chosen; as, picked men.

4. Fine; spruce; smart; precise; dianty. [Obs.] Shak.

Picked dogfish. (Zoˆl.) See under Dogfish. -- Picked out, ornamented or relieved with lines, or the like, of a different, usually a lighter, color; as, a carriage body dark green, picked out with red.

Pick"ed*ness (?), n. 1. The state of being sharpened; pointedness.

2. Fineness; spruceness; smartness. [Obs.]

Too much pickedness is not manly.

B. Jonson.

Pick*eer" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Pickeered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pickeering.] [F. picorer to go marauding, orig., to go to steal cattle, ultimately fr. L. pecus, pecoris, cattle; cf. F. picorÈe, Sp. pecorea robbery committed by straggling soldiers.] To make a raid for booty; to maraud; also, to skirmish in advance of an army. See Picaroon. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet.

Pick*eer"er (?), n. One who pickeers. [Obs.]

Pick"er (?), n. [From Pick.] 1. One who, or that which, picks, in any sense, - - as, one who uses a pick; one who gathers; a thief; a pick; a pickax; as, a cotton picker. "Pickers and stealers." Shak.

2. (Mach.) A machine for picking fibrous materials to pieces so as to loosen and separate the fiber.

3. (Weaving) The piece in a loom which strikes the end of the shuttle, and impels it through the warp.

4. (Ordnance) A priming wire for cleaning the vent.

Pick"er*el (?), n. [Dim. of Pike.] [Written also pickerell.] 1. A young or small pike. [Obs.]

Bet [better] is, quoth he, a pike than a pickerel.

Chaucer.

2. (Zoˆl.) (a) Any one of several species of freshwater fishes of the genus Esox, esp. the smaller species. (b) The glasseye, or wall-eyed pike. See Wall-eye.

The federation, or chain, pickerel (Esox reticulatus) and the brook pickerel (E. Americanus) are the most common American species. They are used for food, and are noted for their voracity. About the Great Lakes the pike is called pickerel.

Pickerel weed (Bot.), a blue-flowered aquatic plant (Pontederia cordata) having large arrow-shaped leaves. So called because common in slow-moving waters where pickerel are often found.

Pick"er*ing (?), n. [Probably a corruption of Pickerel.] (Zoˆl.) The sauger of the St.Lawrence River.

Pick"er*y (?), n. [From Pick to steal; or perhaps from Pickeer.] Petty theft. [Scot.] Holinshed.

Pick"et (?), n. [F. piquet, properly dim. of pique spear, pike. See Pike, and cf. Piquet.] 1. A stake sharpened or pointed, especially one used in fortification and encampments, to mark bounds and angles; or one used for tethering horses.

2. A pointed pale, used in marking fences.

3. [Probably so called from the picketing of the horses.] (Mil.) A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket.

4. By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept outsiders, and prevent them from working for employers with whom the organization is at variance. [Cant]

5. A military punishment, formerly resorted to, in which the offender was forced to stand with one foot on a pointed stake.

6. A game at cards. See Piquet.

Inlying picket (Mil.), a detachment of troops held in camp or quarters, detailed to march if called upon. -- Picket fence, a fence made of pickets. See def. 2, above. -- Picket guard (Mil.), a guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case of alarm. -- Picket line. (Mil.) (a) A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed at intervals. (b) A rope to which horses are secured when groomed. -- Picketpin, an iron pin for picketing horses.

Pick"et, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing.] 1. To fortify with pointed stakes.

2. To inclose or fence with pickets or pales.

3. To tether to, or as to, a picket; as, to picket a horse.

4. To guard, as a camp or road, by an outlying picket.

5. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]

Pick`e*tee" (?), n. (Bot.) See Picotee.

Pick"-fault` (?), n. One who seeks out faults.

Pick"ing, n. 1. The act of digging or breaking up, as with a pick.

2. The act of choosing, plucking, or gathering.

3. That which is, or may be, picked or gleaned.

4. Pilfering; also, that which is pilfered.

5. pl. The pulverized shells of oysters used in making walks. [Eng.] Simmonds.

6. (Mining) Rough sorting of ore.

7. Overburned bricks. Simmonds.

Pick"ing, a. 1. Done or made as with a pointed tool; as, a picking sound.

2. Nice; careful. [Obs.]

was too warm on picking work to dwell.

Dryden.

Picking peg. (Weaving) See Picker, n., 3.

Pic"kle (?), n. [Obs.] See Picle.

Pic"kle, n. [Cf. D. pekel. Probably a dim. fr. Pick, v. t., alluding to the cleaning of the fish.] 1. (a) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine. (b) Vinegar, plain or spiced, used for preserving vegetables, fish, eggs, oysters, etc.

2. Any article of food which has been preserved in brine or in vinegar.

3. (Founding) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color.

4. A troublesome child; as, a little pickle. [Colloq.]

To be in a pickle, to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. "How cam'st thou in this pickle?" Shak. - - To put a rod in pickle, to prepare a particular reproof, punishment, or penalty for future application.

Pic"kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pickled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pickling (?).] 1. To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers.

2. To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters.

Pic"kled (?), a. Preserved in a pickle.

Pic"kle-her"ring (?), n. 1. A herring preserved in brine; a pickled herring. [Obs.] Shak.

2. A merry-andrew; a buffoon. [Obs.] Addison.

Pic"kler (?), n. One who makes pickles.

Pick"lock` (?), n. 1. An instrument for picking locks. Shak.

2. One who picks locks; a thief. "A picklock of secrets." Jer. Taylor.

Pick"mire` (?), n. [So called from its picking its food from the mire.] (Zoˆl.) The pewit, or black-headed gull. [Prov. Eng.]

Pick"nick (?), n. See Picnic.

Pick"pack` (?), adv. Pickaback.

Pick"pen`ny (?), n.; pl. Pickpennies (&?;). A miser; also, a sharper. Dr. H. More.

Pick"pock`et (?), n. One who steals purses or other articles from pockets. Bentley.

Pick"purse` (?), n. One who steals purses, or money from purses. Latimer. Shak.

Pick"sy (?), n. See Pixy.

Pick"thank` (?), n. One who strives to put another under obligation; an officious person; hence, a flatterer. Used also adjectively.

Smiling pickthanks, and base newsmongers.

Shak.

Pick"tooth` (?), n. A toothpick. [Obs.] Swift.

Pi"cle (pk"'l), n. [Prob. fr. pightel or pingle.] A small piece of land inclosed with a hedge; a close. [Obs.] [Written also pickle.]

Pic"nic (?), n. [Cf. F. piquenique. See Pick, v., and cf. Knickknack.] Formerly, an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table; now, an excursion or pleasure party in which the members partake of a collation or repast (usually in the open air, and from food carried by themselves).

Pic"nic (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Picnicked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Picnicking (?).] To go on a picnic, or pleasure excursion; to eat in public fashion.

Pic"nick*er (?), n. One who takes part in a picnic.

Pi"coid (?), a. [Picus + - oid.] (Zoˆl.) Like or pertaining to the Pici.

Pic"o*line (?), n. [L. pix, picis, pitch + oleum oil + -ine.] (Chem.) Any one of three isometric bases (C6H7N) related to pyridine, and obtained from bone oil, acrolein ammonia, and coal-tar naphtha, as colorless mobile liquids of strong odor; -- called also methyl pyridine.

{ Pic`o*tee" (?), Pic`o*tine" (?), } n. [F. picotÈ dotted, picked.] (Bot.) A variety of carnation having petals of a light color variously dotted and spotted at the edges.

Pic"quet (?), n. See Piquet.

Pi"cra (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?; sharp, bitter.] (Med.) The powder of aloes with canella, formerly officinal, employed as a cathartic.

Pi"crate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of picric acid.

Pi"cric (?), a. [Gr. &?; bitter.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, a strong organic acid (called picric acid), intensely bitter.

Picric acid is obtained by treating phenol with strong nitric acid, as a brilliant yellow crystalline substance, C6H2(NO2)3.OH. It is used in dyeing silk and wool, and also in the manufacture of explosives, as it is very unstable when heated. Called also trinitrophenol, and formerly carbazotic acid.

Pic"rite (?), n. [From Gr. &?; bitter.] (Min.) A dark green igneous rock, consisting largely of chrysolite, with hornblende, augite, biotite, etc.

Pic"ro*lite (?), n. [Gr. &?; bitter + -lite.: cf. F. picrolithe.] (Min.) A fibrous variety of serpentine.

Pic"ro*mel (?), n. [Gr. &?; bitter + &?; honey: cf. F. picromel.] (Old Chem.) A colorless viscous substance having a bitter-sweet taste.

It was formerly supposed to be the essential principle of the bile, but is now known to be a mixture, principally of salts of glycocholic and taurocholic acids.

Pic`ro*tox"in (?), n. [Gr. &?; bitter + toxic + -in.] (Chem.) A bitter white crystalline substance found in the cocculus indicus. It is a peculiar poisonous neurotic and intoxicant, and consists of a mixture of several neutral substances.

Pi"cryl (?), n. [Picric + - yl.] (Chem.) The hypothetical radical of picric acid, analogous to phenyl.

Pict"ish (?), a. Of or pertaining to Picts; resembling the Picts. "The Pictish peer." Byron.

Pic"to*graph (?), n. [See Picture, and -graph.] A picture or hieroglyph representing and expressing an idea. -- Pic`to*graph"ic (#), a.

Pic*to"ri*al (?), a. [L. pictorius, fr. pictor a painter, fr. pingere to paint. See Paint.] Of or pertaining to pictures; illustrated by pictures; forming pictures; representing with the clearness of a picture; as, a pictorial dictionary; a pictorial imagination. "Pictorial rhetoric." Ruskin. -- Pic*to"ri*al*ly, adv.

{ Pic*tor"ic (?), Pic*tor"ic*al (?), } a. Pictorial. [Obs.]

Picts (?), n. pl.; sing. Pict (&?;). [L. Picti; cf. AS. Peohtas.] (Ethnol.) A race of people of uncertain origin, who inhabited Scotland in early times.

||Pic*tu"ra (?), n. [L., a painting.] (Zoˆl.) Pattern of coloration.

Pic"tur*a*ble (?), a. Capable of being pictured, or represented by a picture.

Pic"tur*al (?), a. Pictorial. [R.] Sir W. Scott.

Pic"tur*al, n. A picture. [Obs.] Spenser.

Pic"ture (?), n. [L. pictura, fr. pingere, pictum, to paint: cf. F. peinture. See Paint.] 1. The art of painting; representation by painting. [Obs.]

Any well-expressed image . . . either in picture or sculpture.

Sir H. Wotton.

2. A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model.

Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects.

Bacon.

The young king's picture . . . in virgin wax.

Howell.

3. An image or resemblance; a representation, either to the eye or to the mind; that which, by its likeness, brings vividly to mind some other thing; as, a child is the picture of his father; the man is the picture of grief.

My eyes make pictures when they are shut.

Coleridge.

Picture is often used adjectively, or in forming self-explaining compounds; as, picture book or picture- book, picture frame or picture-frame, picture seller or picture-seller, etc.

Picture gallery, a gallery, or large apartment, devoted to the exhibition of pictures. -- Picture red, a rod of metal tube fixed to the walls of a room, from which pictures are hung. -- Picture writing. (a) The art of recording events, or of expressing messages, by means of pictures representing the actions or circumstances in question. Tylor. (b) The record or message so represented; as, the picture writing of the American Indians.

Syn. -- Picture, Painting. Every kind of representation by drawing or painting is a picture, whether made with oil colors, water colors, pencil, crayons, or India ink; strictly, a painting is a picture made by means of colored paints, usually applied moist with a brush.

Pic"ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pictured (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Picturing.] To draw or paint a resemblance of; to delineate; to represent; to form or present an ideal likeness of; to bring before the mind. "I . . . do picture it in my mind." Spenser.

I have not seen him so pictured.

Shak.

Pic"tured (?), a. Furnished with pictures; represented by a picture or pictures; as, a pictured scene.

<! p. 1084 !>

Pic"tur*er (?), n. One who makes pictures; a painter. [R.] Fuller.

Pic`tur*esque" (?), a. [It. pittoresco: cf. F. pittoresque. See Pictorial.] Forming, or fitted to form, a good or pleasing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language.

What is picturesque as placed in relation to the beautiful and the sublime? It is . . . the characteristic pushed into a sensible excess.

De Quincey.

-- Pic`tur*esque"ly, adv. -- Pic`tur*esque"ness, n.

Pic`tur*esqu"ish, a. Somewhat picturesque. [R.]

Pic"tur*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picturized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Picturizing.] [R.] 1. To picture.

2. To adorn with pictures.

Pic"ul (?), n. [Jav. & Malay pikul, fr. pikul to carry on the back, to carry a burden; n., a man's burden.] A commercial weight varying in different countries and for different commodities. In Borneo it is 135 lbs.; in China and Sumatra, 133Ω lbs.; in Japan, 133 lbs.; but sometimes 130 lbs., etc. Called also, by the Chinese, tan. [Written also pecul, and pecal.]

Pic"u*let (?), n. [Dim. of Picus.] (Zoˆl.) Any species of very small woodpeckers of the genus Picumnus and allied genera. Their tail feathers are not stiff and sharp at the tips, as in ordinary woodpeckers.

||Pi"cus (?), n.; pl. Pici (#). [L., a woodpecker.] (Zoˆl.) A genus of ||woodpeckers, including some of the common American and European ||species.

Pid"dle (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Piddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Piddling (?).] [Cf. dial. Sw. pittla to keep picking at, Sw. peta to pick.] 1. To deal in trifles; to concern one's self with trivial matters rather than with those that are important. Ascham.

2. To be squeamishly nice about one's food. Swift.

3. To urinate; -- child's word.

Pid"dler (?), n. One who piddles.

Pid"dling (?), a.Trifling; trivial; frivolous; paltry; -- applied to persons and things.

The ignoble hucksterage of piddling tithes.

Milton.

Pid"dock (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zoˆl.) Any species of Pholas; a pholad. See Pholas.

Pie (?), n. [OE. pie, pye; cf. Ir. & Gael. pighe pie, also Gael. pige an earthen jar or pot. Cf. Piggin.] 1. An article of food consisting of paste baked with something in it or under it; as, chicken pie; venison pie; mince pie; apple pie; pumpkin pie.

2. See Camp, n., 5. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Pie crust, the paste of a pie.

Pie, n. [F. pie, L. pica; cf. picus woodpecker, pingere to paint; the bird being perhaps named from its colors. Cf. Pi, Paint, Speight.] 1. (Zoˆl.) (a) A magpie. (b) Any other species of the genus Pica, and of several allied genera. [Written also pye.]

2. (R. C. Ch.) The service book.

3. (Pritn.) Type confusedly mixed. See Pi.

By cock and pie, an adjuration equivalent to "by God and the service book." Shak. -- Tree pie (Zoˆl.), any Asiatic bird of the genus Dendrocitta, allied to the magpie. -- Wood pie. (Zoˆl.) See French pie, under French.

Pie, v. t. See Pi.

Pie"bald` (?), a. [Pie the party- colored bird + bald.] 1. Having spots and patches of black and white, or other colors; mottled; pied. "A piebald steed of Thracian strain." Dryden.

2. Fig.: Mixed. "Piebald languages." Hudibras.

Piece (?), n. [OE. pece, F. piËce, LL. pecia, petia, petium, probably of Celtic origin; cf. W. peth a thing, a part, portion, a little, Armor. pez, Gael. & Ir. cuid part, share. Cf. Petty.] 1. A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces.

Bring it out piece by piece.

Ezek. xxiv. 6.

2. A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper.

3. Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance; especially: (a) A literary or artistic composition; as, a piece of poetry, music, or statuary. (b) A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a following piece. (c) A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings. (d) A fact; an item; as, a piece of news; a piece of knowledge.

4. An individual; -- applied to a person as being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used slightingly or in contempt. "If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him." Sir P. Sidney.

Thy mother was a piece of virtue.

Shak.

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.

Coleridge.

5. (Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn.

6. A castle; a fortified building. [Obs.] Spenser.

Of a piece, of the same sort, as if taken from the same whole; like; -- sometimes followed by with. Dryden. -- Piece of eight, the Spanish piaster, formerly divided into eight reals. -- To give a piece of one's mind to, to speak plainly, bluntly, or severely to (another). Thackeray. -- Piece broker, one who buys shreds and remnants of cloth to sell again. -- Piece goods, goods usually sold by pieces or fixed portions, as shirtings, calicoes, sheetings, and the like.

Piece, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pieced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Piecing (?).] 1. To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; as, to piece a garment; -- often with out. Shak.

2. To unite; to join; to combine. Fuller.

His adversaries . . . pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.

Fuller.

Piece (?), v. i. To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. "It pieced better." Bacon.

Piece"less, a. Not made of pieces; whole; entire.

Piece"ly, adv. In pieces; piecemeal. [Obs.]

Piece"meal` (?), adv. [OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS. m&?;lum, dat. pl. of m&?;l part. See Meal a portion.] 1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. "On which it piecemeal brake." Chapman.

The beasts will tear thee piecemeal.

Tennyson.

2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession.

Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that.

Pope.

Piece"meal`, a. Made up of parts or pieces; single; separate. "These piecemeal guilts." Gov. of Tongue.

Piece"meal`, n. A fragment; a scrap. R. Vaughan.

Piece"mealed` (?), a. Divided into pieces.

Piece"ner (?), n. 1. One who supplies rolls of wool to the slubbing machine in woolen mills.

2. Same as Piecer, 2.

Pie"cer (?), n. 1. One who pieces; a patcher.

2. A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.

Piece"work` (?), n. Work done by the piece or job; work paid for at a rate based on the amount of work done, rather than on the time employed.

The reaping was piecework, at so much per acre.

R. Jefferies.

Pied (?), imp. & p. p. of Pi, or Pie, v.

Pied (?), a. [From Pie the party- colored bird.] Variegated with spots of different colors; party- colored; spotted; piebald. "Pied coats." Burton. "Meadows trim with daisies pied." Milton.

Pied antelope (Zoˆl.), the bontebok. -- Pied-billed grebe (Zoˆl.), the dabchick. -- Pied blackbird (Zoˆl.), any Asiatic thrush of the genus Turdulus. -- Pied finch (Zoˆl.) (a) The chaffinch. (b) The snow bunting. [Prov. Eng.] -- Pied flycatcher (Zoˆl.), a common European flycatcher (Ficedula atricapilla). The male is black and white.

Pied"mont (?), a. [F. pied foot + mont mountain.] (Geol.) Noting the region of foothills near the base of a mountain chain.

Pied"mont*ite (?), n. (Min.) A manganesian kind of epidote, from Piedmont. See Epidote.

Pied"ness (?), n. The state of being pied. Shak.

||PiÈ`douche" (?), n. [F., fr. It. peduccio console, corbel.] A ||pedestal of small size, used to support small objects, as busts, ||vases, and the like.

Pied"stall (?), n. See Pedestal. [Obs.]

Pie"man (?), n.; pl. Piemen (&?;). A man who makes or sells pies.

Piend (?), n. [Cf. Dan. pind a peg.] See Peen.

||Pi*e"no (?), a. [It., fr. L. plenus full.] (Mus.) Full; having all ||the instruments.

Pie"plant` (?), n. (Bot.) A plant (Rheum Rhaponticum) the leafstalks of which are acid, and are used in making pies; the garden rhubarb.

{ Pie"pou`dre, Pie"pow`der } (?), n. [Lit., dustyfoot, i. e., dusty-footed dealers, fr. F. pied foot + poudreux dusty.] (O. Eng. Law) An ancient court of record in England, formerly incident to every fair and market, of which the steward of him who owned or had the toll was the judge. Blackstone.

Pier (?), n. [OE. pere, OF. piere a stone, F. pierre, fr. L. petra, Gr. &?;. Cf. Petrify.] 1. (Arch.) (a) Any detached mass of masonry, whether insulated or supporting one side of an arch or lintel, as of a bridge; the piece of wall between two openings. (b) Any additional or auxiliary mass of masonry used to stiffen a wall. See Buttress.

2. A projecting wharf or landing place.