Chapter 86

Ptol`e*ma"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer.

Ptolemaic system (Astron.), the system maintained by Ptolemy, who supposed the earth to be fixed in the center of the universe, with the sun and stars revolving around it. This theory was received for ages, until superseded by the Copernican system.

Ptol"e*ma`ist (?), n. One who accepts the astronomical system of Ptolemy.

Pto"ma*ine (?), n. [From Gr. &?; a dead body.] (Physiol. Chem.) One of a class of animal bases or alkaloids formed in the putrefaction of various kinds of albuminous matter, and closely related to the vegetable alkaloids; a cadaveric poison. The ptomaines, as a class, have their origin in dead matter, by which they are to be distinguished from the leucomaines.

||Pto"sis (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a falling.] (Med.) Drooping of the ||upper eyelid, produced by paralysis of its levator muscle.

<! p. 1159 !>

Pty"a*lin (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle. See Ptyalism.] (Physiol. Chem.) An unorganized amylolytic ferment, on enzyme, present in human mixed saliva and in the saliva of some animals.

Pty"a*lism (?), n. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to spit much, fr. &?; spittle, fr. &?; to spit: cf. F. ptyalisme.] Salivation, or an excessive flow of saliva. Quain.

Pty*al"o*gogue (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle + &?; driving.] (Med.) A ptysmagogue.

Ptys"ma*gogue (?), n. [Gr. &?; spittle + &?; driving: cf. F. ptysmagogue.] (Med.) A medicine that promotes the discharge of saliva.

||Ptyx"is (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a folding.] (Bot.) The way in which ||a leaf is sometimes folded in the bud.

Pub"ble (?), a. [Perhaps fr. bubble.] Puffed out, pursy; pudgy; fat. [Obs.] Drant.

Pu"ber*al (?), a. [From L. puber, pubes, grown up, adult.] Of or pertaining to puberty.

Pu"ber*ty (?), n. [L. pubertas, fr. puber, pubes, adult: cf. F. pubertÈ.] 1. The earliest age at which persons are capable of begetting or bearing children, usually considered, in temperate climates, to be about fourteen years in males and twelve in females.

2. (Bot.) The period when a plant first bears flowers.

Pu*ber"u*lent (?), a. [See Pubis.] (Bot.) Very minutely downy.

Pu"bes (?), n. [L., the hair which appears on the body at puberty, from pubes adult.] 1. (Anat.) (a) The hair which appears upon the lower part of the hypogastric region at the age of puberty. (b) Hence (as more commonly used), the lower part of the hypogastric region; the pubic region.

2. (Bot.) The down of plants; a downy or villous substance which grows on plants; pubescence.

Pu*bes"cence (?), n. [Cf. F. pubescence.] 1. The quality or state of being pubescent, or of having arrived at puberty. Sir T. Browne.

2. A covering of soft short hairs, or down, as one some plants and insects; also, the state of being so covered.

Pu*bes"cen*cy (?), n. Pubescence.

Pu*bes"cent (?), a. [L. pubescens, -entis, p. pr. of pubescere to reach puberty, to grow hairy or mossy, fr. pubes pubes: cf. F. pubescent.] 1. Arrived at puberty.

That . . . the men (are) pubescent at the age of twice seven, is accounted a punctual truth.

Sir T. Browne.

2. Covered with pubescence, or fine short hairs, as certain insects, and the leaves of some plants.

Pu"bic (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the pubes; in the region of the pubes; as, the pubic bone; the pubic region, or the lower part of the hypogastric region. See Pubes. (b) Of or pertaining to the pubis.

||Pu"bis (?), n. [NL. See Pubes.] (Anat.) The ventral and anterior of ||the three principal bones composing either half of the pelvis; ||sharebone; pubic bone.

Pub"lic (?), a. [L. publicus, poblicus, fr. populus people: cf. F. public. See People.] 1. Of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; -- opposed to private; as, the public treasury.

To the public good Private respects must yield.

Milton.

He [Alexander Hamilton] touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon its feet.

D. Webster.

2. Open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious; as, public report; public scandal.

Joseph, . . . not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

Matt. i. 19.

3. Open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house. "The public street." Shak.

Public act or statute (Law), an act or statute affecting matters of public concern. Of such statutes the courts take judicial notice. -- Public credit. See under Credit. -- Public funds. See Fund, 3. -- Public house, an inn, or house of entertainment. -- Public law. (a) See International law, under International. (b) A public act or statute. -- Public nuisance. (Law) See under Nuisance. -- Public orator. (Eng. Universities) See Orator, 3. -- Public stores, military and naval stores, equipments, etc. -- Public works, all fixed works built by civil engineers for public use, as railways, docks, canals, etc.; but strictly, military and civil engineering works constructed at the public cost.

Pub"lic, n. 1. The general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; as, the American public; also, a particular body or aggregation of people; as, an author's public.

The public is more disposed to censure than to praise.

Addison.

2. A public house; an inn. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

In public, openly; before an audience or the people at large; not in private or secrecy. "We are to speak in public." Shak.

Pub"li*can (?), n. [L. publicanus: cf. F. publicain. See Public.] 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute. The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions, and were regarded with great detestation.

As Jesus at meat . . . many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

Matt. 1x. 10.

How like a fawning publican he looks!

Shak.

2. The keeper of an inn or public house; one licensed to retail beer, spirits, or wine.

Pub`li*ca"tion (?), n. [L. publicatio confiscation: cf. F. publication. See Publish.] 1. The act of publishing or making known; notification to the people at large, either by words, writing, or printing; proclamation; divulgation; promulgation; as, the publication of the law at Mount Sinai; the publication of the gospel; the publication of statutes or edicts.

2. The act of offering a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., to the public by sale or by gratuitous distribution.

The publication of these papers was not owing to our folly, but that of others.

Swift.

3. That which is published or made known; especially, any book, pamphlet, etc., offered for sale or to public notice; as, a daily or monthly publication.

4. An act done in public. [R. & Obs.]

His jealousy . . . attends the business, the recreations, the publications, and retirements of every man.

Jer. Taylor.

Publication of a libel (Law), such an exhibition of a libel as brings it to the notice of at least one person other than the person libeled. -- Publication of a will (Law), the delivery of a will, as his own, by a testator to witnesses who attest it.

Pub"lic-heart`ed (?), a. Public- spirited. [R.]

Pub"li*cist (?), n. [Cf. F. publiciste.] A writer on the laws of nature and nations; one who is versed in the science of public right, the principles of government, etc.

The Whig leaders, however, were much more desirous to get rid of Episcopacy than to prove themselves consummate publicists and logicians.

Macaulay.

Pub*lic"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. publicitÈ.] The quality or state of being public, or open to the knowledge of a community; notoriety; publicness.

Pub"lic*ly (?), adv. 1. With exposure to popular view or notice; without concealment; openly; as, property publicly offered for sale; an opinion publicly avowed; a declaration publicly made.

2. In the name of the community. Addison.

Pub"lic-mind`ed (?), a. Public- spirited. -- Pub"lic-mind`ed*ness, n.

Pub"lic*ness, n. 1. The quality or state of being public, or open to the view or notice of people at large; publicity; notoriety; as, the publicness of a sale.

2. The quality or state of belonging to the community; as, the publicness of property. Boyle.

Pub"lic-spir`it*ed (?), a. 1. Having, or exercising, a disposition to advance the interest of the community or public; as, public- spirited men.

2. Dictated by a regard to public good; as, a public-spirited project or measure. Addison.

-- Pub"lic-spir`it*ed*ly, adv. -- Pub"lic-spir`it*ed*ness, n.

Pub"lish (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Published (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Publishing.] [F. publier, L. publicare, publicatum. See Public, and -ish.] 1. To make public; to make known to mankind, or to people in general; to divulge, as a private transaction; to promulgate or proclaim, as a law or an edict.

Published was the bounty of her name.

Chaucer.

The unwearied sun, from day to day, Does his Creator's power display, And publishes to every land The work of an almighty hand.

Addison.

2. To make known by posting, or by reading in a church; as, to publish banns of marriage.

3. To send forth, as a book, newspaper, musical piece, or other printed work, either for sale or for general distribution; to print, and issue from the press.

4. To utter, or put into circulation; as, to publish counterfeit paper. [U.S.]

To publish a will (Law), to acknowledge it before the witnesses as the testator's last will and testament.

Syn. -- To announce; proclaim; advertise; declare; promulgate; disclose; divulge; reveal. See Announce.

Pub"lish*a*ble (?), a. Capable of being published; suitable for publication.

Pub"lish*er (?), n. One who publishes; as, a publisher of a book or magazine.

For love of you, not hate unto my friend, Hath made me publisher of this pretense.

Shak.

Pub"lish*ment (?), n. 1. The act or process of making publicly known; publication.

2. A public notice of intended marriage, required by the laws of some States. [U.S.]

Puc*coon" (?), n. [From the American Indian name.] (Bot.) Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, as the bloodroot and two species of Lithospermum (L. hirtum, and L. canescens); also, the pigment itself.

Puce (?), a. [F., fr. puce a flea, L. pulex, pulicis.] Of a dark brown or brownish purple color.

Pu"cel (?), n. See Pucelle. [Obs.]

Pu"cel*age (?; 48), n. [F.] Virginity. [R.]

||Pu*celle" (?), n. [F., fr. LL. pulicella, fr. L. pullus a young ||animal. See Pullet.] A maid; a virgin. [Written also pucel.] [Obs.]

Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan.

B. Jonson.

La Pucelle, the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc.

Pu"ce*ron (?), n. [F., from puce a flea. See Puce.] (Zoˆl.) Any plant louse, or aphis.

Pu"cher*ite (?), n. [So named from the Pucher Mine, in Saxony.] (Min.) Vanadate of bismuth, occurring in minute reddish brown crystals.

Puck (?), n. [OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. pki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug.] 1. (MediÊval Myth.) A celebrated fairy, "the merry wanderer of the night;" -- called also Robin Goodfellow, Friar Rush, Pug, etc. Shak.

He meeteth Puck, whom most men call Hobgoblin, and on him doth fall.

Drayton.

2. (Zoˆl.) The goatsucker. [Prov. Eng.]

Puck"ball` (?), n. [Puck + ball.] A puffball.

Puck"er (?), v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Puckered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Puckering.] [From Poke a pocket, small bag.] To gather into small folds or wrinkles; to contract into ridges and furrows; to corrugate; -- often with up; as, to pucker up the mouth. "His skin [was] puckered up in wrinkles." Spectator.

Puck"er, n. 1. A fold; a wrinkle; a collection of folds.

2. A state of perplexity or anxiety; confusion; bother; agitation. [Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U. S.]

Puck"er*er, n. One who, or that which, puckers.

Puck"er*y (?), a. 1. Producing, or tending to produce, a pucker; as, a puckery taste. Lowell.

2. Inclined to become puckered or wrinkled; full of puckers or wrinkles.

Puck"fist` (?), n. A puffball.

Puck"ish, a. [From Puck.] Resembling Puck; merry; mischievous. "Puckish freaks." J. R. Green.

Pu"cras (?), n. [From a native name in India.] (Zoˆl.) See Koklass.

Pud (?), n. Same as Pood.

Pud (?), n. The hand; the first. [Colloq.] Lamb.

Pud"den*ing (?), n. [Probably fr. pudden, for pudding, in allusion to its softness.] (Naut.) (a) A quantity of rope-yarn, or the like, placed, as a fender, on the bow of a boat. (b) A bunch of soft material to prevent chafing between spars, or the like.

Pud"der (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Puddered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Puddering.] [Cf. Pother.] To make a tumult or bustle; to splash; to make a pother or fuss; to potter; to meddle.

Puddering in the designs or doings of others.

Barrow.

Others pudder into their food with their broad nebs.

Holland.

Pud"der, v. t. To perplex; to embarrass; to confuse; to bother; as, to pudder a man. Locke.

Pud"der, n. A pother; a tumult; a confused noise; turmoil; bustle. "All in a pudder." Milton.

Pud"ding (?), n. [Cf. F. boudin black pudding, sausage, L. botulus, botellus, a sausage, G. & Sw. pudding pudding, Dan. podding, pudding, LG. puddig thick, stumpy, W. poten, potten, also E. pod, pout, v.] 1. A species of food of a soft or moderately hard consistence, variously made, but often a compound of flour or meal, with milk and eggs, etc.

And solid pudding against empty praise.

Pope.

2. Anything resembling, or of the softness and consistency of, pudding.

3. An intestine; especially, an intestine stuffed with meat, etc.; a sausage. Shak.

4. Any food or victuals.

Eat your pudding, slave, and hold your tongue.

Prior.

5. (Naut.) Same as Puddening.

Pudding grass (Bot.), the true pennyroyal (Mentha Pulegium), formerly used to flavor stuffing for roast meat. Dr. Prior. -- Pudding pie, a pudding with meat baked in it. Taylor (1630). -- Pudding pipe (Bot.), the long, cylindrical pod of the leguminous tree Cassia Fistula. The seeds are separately imbedded in a sweetish pulp. See Cassia. -- Pudding sleeve, a full sleeve like that of the English clerical gown. Swift. -- Pudding stone. (Min.) See Conglomerate, n., 2. -- Pudding time. (a) The time of dinner, pudding being formerly the dish first eaten. [Obs.] Johnson. (b) The nick of time; critical time. [Obs.]

Mars, that still protects the stout, In pudding time came to his aid.

Hudibras.

Pud"ding-head`ed (?), a. Stupid. [Colloq.]

Pud"dle (?), n. [OE. podel; cf. LG. pudel, Ir. & Gael. plod pool.] 1. A small quantity of dirty standing water; a muddy plash; a small pool. Spenser.

2. Clay, or a mixture of clay and sand, kneaded or worked, when wet, to render it impervious to water.

Puddle poet, a low or worthless poet. [R.] Fuller.

Pud"dle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Puddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Puddling (?).] 1. To make foul or muddy; to pollute with dirt; to mix dirt with (water).

Some unhatched practice . . . Hath puddled his clear spirit.

Shak.

2. (a) To make dense or close, as clay or loam, by working when wet, so as to render impervious to water. (b) To make impervious to liquids by means of puddle; to apply puddle to.

3. To subject to the process of puddling, as iron, so as to convert it from the condition of cast iron to that of wrought iron. Ure.

Puddled steel, steel made directly from cast iron by a modification of the puddling process.

Pud"dle, v. i. To make a dirty stir. [Obs.] R. Junius.

Pud"dle-ball` (?), n. The lump of pasty wrought iron as taken from the puddling furnace to be hammered or rolled.

Pud"dle-bar" (?), n. An iron bar made at a single heat from a puddle-ball hammering and rolling.

Pud"dler (?), n. One who converts cast iron into wrought iron by the process of puddling.

Pud"dling (?), n. 1. (Hydraul. Engin.) (a) The process of working clay, loam, pulverized ore, etc., with water, to render it compact, or impervious to liquids; also, the process of rendering anything impervious to liquids by means of puddled material. (b) Puddle. See Puddle, n., 2.

2. (Metal.) The art or process of converting cast iron into wrought iron or steel by subjecting it to intense heat and frequent stirring in a reverberatory furnace in the presence of oxidizing substances, by which it is freed from a portion of its carbon and other impurities.

Puddling furnace, a reverberatory furnace in which cast iron is converted into wrought iron or into steel by puddling.

Pud"dly (?), a. Consisting of, or resembling, puddles; muddy; foul. "Thick puddly water." Carew.

Pud"dock (?), n. [For paddock, or parrock, a park.] A small inclosure. [Written also purrock.] [Prov. Eng.]

Pu"den*cy (?), n. [L. pudens, p. pr. of pudere to be ashamed.] Modesty; shamefacedness. "A pudency so rosy." Shak.

||Pu*den"da (?), n. pl. [L., from pudendus that of which one ought to ||be ashamed, fr. pudere to be ashamed.] (Anat.) The external organs of ||generation.

Pu*den"dal (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the pudenda, or pudendum.

||Pu*den"dum (?), n. [NL. See Pudenda.] (Anat.) The external organs of ||generation, especially of the female; the vulva.

<! p. 1160 !>

Pudg"y (?), a. Short and fat or sturdy; dumpy; podgy; as, a short, pudgy little man; a pudgy little hand. Thackeray.

Pu"dic (?), a. [L. pudicus modest, fr. pudere to be ashamed: cf. F. pudique.] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the external organs of generation.

Pu"dic*al (?), a. (Anat.) Pudic.

Pu*dic"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. pudicitÈ, L. pudicitia.] Modesty; chastity. Howell.

Pu"du (?), n. (Zoˆl.) A very small deer (Pudua humilis), native of the Chilian Andes. It has simple spikelike antlers, only two or three inches long.

Pue (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Pued (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Puing.] To make a low whistling sound; to chirp, as birds. Halliwell.

Pueb"lo (?), n. [Sp., a village, L. populus people. See People.] A communistic building erected by certain Indian tribes of Arizona and New Mexico. It is often of large size and several stories high, and is usually built either of stone or adobe. The term is also applied to any Indian village in the same region.

Pueblo Indians (Ethnol.), any tribe or community of Indians living in pueblos. The principal Pueblo tribes are the Moqui, the ZuÒi, the Keran, and the Tewan.

Pue"fel`low (?), n. A pewfellow. [Obs.]

Pu"er (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] The dung of dogs, used as an alkaline steep in tanning. Simmonds.

||Pu*er"co (?), n. [Sp.] A hog.

Puerco beds (Geol.), a name given to certain strata belonging to the earliest Eocene. They are developed in Northwestern New Mexico, along the Rio Puerco, and are characterized by their mammalian remains.

Pu"er*ile (?), a. [L. puerilis, fr. puer a child, a boy: cf. F. puÈril.] Boyish; childish; trifling; silly.

The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents.

De Quincey.

Syn. -- Youthful; boyish; juvenile; childish; trifling; weak. See Youthful.

Pu"er*ile*ly, adv. In a puerile manner; childishly.

Pu"er*ile*ness, n. The quality of being puerile; puerility.

Pu`er*il"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Puerilities (#). [L. puerilitas: cf. F. puÈrilitÈ.] 1. The quality of being puerile; childishness; puerileness. Sir T. Browne.

2. That which is puerile or childish; especially, an expression which is flat, insipid, or silly.

Pu*er"per*al (?), a. [L. puerpera a lying-in woman; puer child + parere to bear: cf. F. puerpÈral.] Of or pertaining to childbirth; as, a puerperal fever.

Pu*er"per*ous (?), a. Bearing children. [R.]

Pu"et (?), n. (Zoˆl.) The pewit.

Puff (pf), n. [Akin to G. & Sw. puff a blow, Dan. puf, D. pof; of imitative origin. Cf. Buffet.] 1. A sudden and single emission of breath from the mouth; hence, any sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff. " To every puff of wind a slave." Flatman.

2. Anything light and filled with air. Specifically: (a) A puffball. (b) a kind of light pastry. (c) A utensil of the toilet for dusting the skin or hair with powder.

3. An exaggerated or empty expression of praise, especially one in a public journal.

Puff adder. (Zoˆl.) (a) Any South African viper belonging to Clotho and allied genera. They are exceedingly venomous, and have the power of greatly distending their bodies when irritated. The common puff adder (Vipera, or Clotho arietans) is the largest species, becoming over four feet long. The plumed puff adder (C. cornuta) has a plumelike appendage over each eye. (b) A North American harmless snake (Heterodon platyrrhinos) which has the power of puffing up its body. Called also hog-nose snake, flathead, spreading adder, and blowing adder. -- Puff bird (Zoˆl.), any bird of the genus Bucco, or family BucconidÊ. They are small birds, usually with dull- colored and loose plumage, and have twelve tail feathers. See Barbet (b).

Puff, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Puffed (pft); p. pr. & vb. n. Puffing.] [Akin to G. puffen to pop, buffet, puff, D. poffen to pop, puffen to blow, Sw. puffa to push, to cuff, Dan. puffe to pop, thump. See Puff, n.] 1. To blow in puffs, or with short and sudden whiffs.

2. To blow, as an expression of scorn; -- with at.

It is really to defy Heaven to puff at damnation.

South.

3. To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion.

The ass comes back again, puffing and blowing, from the chase.

L' Estrange.

4. To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated. Boyle.

5. To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance.

Then came brave Glory puffing by.

Herbert.

Puff, v. t. 1. To drive with a puff, or with puffs.

The clearing north will puff the clouds away.

Dryden.

2. To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously.

I puff the prostitute away.

Dryden.

3. To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate; to ruffle with puffs; -- often with up; as, a bladder puffed with air.

The sea puffed up with winds.

Shak.

4. To inflate with pride, flattery, self- esteem, or the like; -- often with up.

Puffed up with military success.

Jowett (Thucyd. )

5. To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly. " Puffed with wonderful skill." Macaulay.

Puff, a. Puffed up; vain. [R.] Fanshawe.

Puff"ball` (?), n. (Bot.) A kind of ball-shaped fungus (Lycoperdon giganteum, and other species of the same genus) full of dustlike spores when ripe; -- called also bullfist, bullfice, puckfist, puff, and puffin.

Puff"er (?), n. 1. One who puffs; one who praises with noisy or extravagant commendation.

2. One who is employed by the owner or seller of goods sold at suction to bid up the price; a by-bidder. Bouvier.

3. (Zoˆl.) (a) Any plectognath fish which inflates its body, as the species of Tetrodon and Diodon; -- called also blower, puff-fish, swellfish, and globefish. (b) The common, or harbor, porpoise.

4. (Dyeing) A kier.

Puff"er*y (?), n. The act of puffing; bestowment of extravagant commendation.

Puf"fin (pf"fn), n. [Akin to puff.] 1. (Zoˆl.) An arctic sea bird Fratercula arctica) allied to the auks, and having a short, thick, swollen beak, whence the name; -- called also bottle nose, cockandy, coulterneb, marrot, mormon, pope, and sea parrot.

The name is also applied to other related species, as the horned puffin (F. corniculata), the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata), and the razorbill.

Manx puffin, the Manx shearwater. See under Manx.

2. (Bot.) The puffball.

3. A sort of apple. [Obs.] Rider's Dict. (1640).

Puff"i*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being puffy.

Puff"ing, a. & n. from Puff, v. i. & t.

Puffing adder. (Zoˆl.) Same as Puff adder (b), under Puff. -- Puffing pig (Zoˆl.), the common porpoise.

Puff"ing*ly, adv. In a puffing manner; with vehement breathing or shortness of breath; with exaggerated praise.

Puff"-leg` (?), n. (Zoˆl.) Any one of numerous species of beautiful humming birds of the genus Eriocnemis having large tufts of downy feathers on the legs.

Puff"-legged` (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Having a conspicuous tuft of feathers on the legs.