PEDUM, p[=e]'dum, _n._ a shepherd's crook. [L.]
PEDUNCLE, p[=e]-dung'kl, _n._ the stalk by which a cluster of flowers or leaves is joined to a twig or branch--sometimes same as _pedicel_--also PEDUN'CULUS.--_adjs._ PEDUN'CULAR, PEDUN'CULATE, -D. [Fr. _pedoncule_--Low L. _pedunculus_--L. _pes_, _pedis_, the foot.]
PEECE, p[=e]s, _n._ (_Shak._) a fabric, a fortified place.
PEECED, p[=e]sd, _adj._ (_Spens._) imperfect.
PEEK, p[=e]k, _v.i._ to peep.--_n._ PEEK'ABOO, a children's game, from the cry made when hiding one's eyes.
PEEL, p[=e]l, _v.t._ to strip off the skin or bark: to bare.--_v.i._ to come off as the skin: to lose the skin: (_slang_) to undress.--_n._ the skin, rind, or bark: (_print._) a wooden pole with short cross-piece for carrying printed sheets to the poles on which they are to be dried: the wash or blade of an oar--not the loom: a mark ([Peel mark]) for cattle, for persons who cannot write, &c.--_adj._ PEELED, stripped of skin, rind, or bark: plundered.--_ns._ PEEL'ER, one who peels, a plunderer; PEEL'ING, the act of stripping: that which is stripped off: (_print._) the removing of the layers of a paper overlay, to get a lighter impression. [O. Fr.
_peler_, to unskin--L. _pil[=a]re_, to deprive of hair--_pilus_, a hair; or _pellis_, a skin.]
PEEL, p[=e]l, _n._ a small Border fortress.--Also PEEL'-TOW'ER. [_Pile_.]
PEEL, p[=e]l, _n._ a baker's wooden shovel: a fire-shovel. [O. Fr.
_pele_--L. _p[=a]la_, a spade.]
PEEL, p[=e]l, _v.t._ to plunder: to pillage. [_Pill_ (v.).]
PEELER, p[=e]l'[.e]r, _n._ a policeman, from Sir R. _Peel_, who established the Irish police (1812-18) and improved those in Britain (1828-30).--_n._ PEEL'ITE, a follower of Peel in the reform of the Corn-laws in 1846.
PEEN, p[=e]n, _n._ the end of a hammer-head, usually shaped for indenting.--_v.t._ to strike with such. [Ger. _pinne_.]
PEENGE, p[=e]nj, _v.i._ (_Scot._) to complain childishly.
PEEP, p[=e]p, _v.i._ to chirp, or cry as a chicken.--_n._ the cry of a young chicken. [Fr. _piper_--L. _pip[=a]re_.]
PEEP, p[=e]p, _v.i._ to look through a narrow opening: to look out from concealment: to look slyly or cautiously: to begin to appear.--_n._ a sly look: a beginning to appear, a glimpse: a narrow view, a slit.--_ns._ PEEP'ER, one that peeps: a prying person: a chicken just breaking the shell: (_slang_) the eye; PEEP'-HOLE, a hole through which one may look without being seen; PEEP'-O'-DAY, the first appearance of light in the morning; PEEP'-SHOW, a small show viewed through a small hole, usually fitted with a magnifying-glass; PEEP'-SIGHT, a plate on the breach with a small hole through which a gunner takes his sight.--PEEPING TOM, a prying fellow, esp. one who peeps in at windows; PEEP-O'-DAY BOYS, a band of Protestants in the north of Ireland, in the end of the 18th century--opposed to the Catholic _Defenders_. [Same as above, Fr. _piper_, to chirp like a bird, then to beguile, whence _peep_=to look out slyly.]
PEER, p[=e]r, _n._ an equal in rank, ability, character, &c.: an associate: a nobleman: a member of the House of Lords:--_fem._ PEER'ESS.--_n._ PEER'AGE, the rank or dignity of a peer: the body of peers: a book containing a description of the history, connections, &c. of the different peers.--_adj._ PEER'LESS, having no peer or equal: matchless.--_adv._ PEER'LESSLY.--_n._ PEER'LESSNESS.--HOUSE OF PEERS, the House of Lords; SPIRITUAL PEER, one of the bishops or archbishops qualified to sit as members of the House of Lords; TEMPORAL PEER, one of the members of the House of Lords, other than the bishops. [O. Fr. (Fr. _pair_),--L. _par_, _paris_, equal.]
PEER, p[=e]r, _v.i._ to look narrowly or closely: to peep: to appear:--_pa.t._ and _pa.p._ peered.--_adj._ PEER'Y, prying, sly. [M. E.
_piren_--Low Ger. _piren_, orig. _pliren_, to draw the eyelids together.]
PEERIE, PEERY, p[=e]r'i, _n._ a top spun with a string.
PEEVERS, p[=e]v'ers, _n._ (_Scot._) the game of hop-scotch.
PEEVISH, p[=e]v'ish, _adj._ habitually fretful: easily annoyed: hard to please: showing ill-nature: childish.--_adv._ PEEV'ISHLY.--_n._ PEEV'ISHNESS. [Prob. imit. of the puling of fretful infants.]
PEEWIT. Same as PEWIT.
PEG, peg, _n._ a wooden pin for fastening boards, or the soles of shoes: one of the pins on which the strings of a musical instrument are stretched: a reason or excuse for action: a drink of soda-water with brandy, &c.: a degree or step.--_v.t._ to fasten with a peg: to keep up the market price by buying or selling at a fixed price: to make points during the game of cribbage before the show of hands.--_v.i._ to work with unremitting effort:--_pr.p._ peg'ging; _pa.t._ and _pa.p._ pegged.--_ns._ PEG'-FICHED, an English game played with pegs or pointed sticks; PEG'-FLOAT, a machine for rasping away the ends of pegs inside shoes.--_adj._ PEGGED, fashioned of, or furnished with, pegs.--_ns._ PEG'GING, the act of fastening with a peg: pegs collectively: a thrashing: determined perseverance in work; PEG'-LEG, a wooden leg of the simplest form, or one who walks on such; PEG'-STRIP, a ribbon of wood cut to the width, &c., of a shoe-peg; PEG'-TANK'ARD, a drinking-vessel having each one's share marked off by a knob; PEG'-TOP, a child's plaything made to spin round by winding a string round it and then rapidly pulling it off: (_pl._) a kind of trousers, wide at the top and narrow at the ankles.--_adj._ shaped like a top.--PEG AWAY, to keep continually working.--TAKE DOWN A PEG, to take down, to humble.
[Scand.; as in Dan. _pig_, a spike.]
PEGASUS, peg'a-sus, _n._ a winged horse which arose from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, when she was slain by Perseus: a genus of small fishes with large, wing-like, pectoral fins: one of the constellations in the northern sky.--_adj._ PEGAS[=E]'AN.
PEGGY, peg'i, _n._ one of several small warblers, the whitethroat, &c.
[_Peggy_, from _Peg_=_Meg_--_Margaret_.]
PEGMATITE, peg'ma-t[=i]t, _n._ coarsely crystallised granite.--_adj._ PEGMATIT'IC.
PEHLEVI, p[=a]'le-v[=e], _n._ an ancient West Iranian idiom during the period of the Sassanides, largely mixed with Semitic words, and poorer in inflections and terminations than Zend (235-640 A.D.): the characters used in writing this language.--_adj._ of or pertaining to, or written in, Pehlevi. [Pers.]
PEIGNOIR, p[=e]n-war', _n._ a loose wrapper worn by women during their toilet. [Fr.]
PEINCT, p[=a]ngkt, _v.t._ (_Spens._) to paint.
PEINE, p[=a]n, _n._ a form of punishment by pressing to death--usually _Peine forte et dure_. [Fr.]
PEIRASTIC, p[=i]-ras'tik, _adj._ tentative.--_n._ PEIRAM'ETER, an instrument for measuring the resistances of road-surface to traction. [Gr.
_peira_, a trial.]
PEISE, p[=a]z, _v.t._ (_Spens._, _Shak._) to poise, to weigh.--_n._ a weight. [_Poise_.]
PEJORATION, p[=e]-j[=o]-r[=a]'shun, _n._ a becoming worse: deterioration.--_v.i._ P[=E]'JOR[=A]TE.--_adj._ and _n._ P[=E]'JOR[=A]TIVE.--_n._ P[=E]JOR'ITY. [L. _pejor_, worse, comp. of _malus_, bad.]
PEKAN, pek'an, _n._ an American species of Marten--called also _Wood-shock_, _Fisher_, and _Black-fox_.
PEKOE, p[=e]'k[=o], _n._ a scented black tea. [Chinese.]
PELAGE, pel'[=a]j, _n._ the hair or wool of a mammal. [Fr.]
PELAGIAN, p[=e]-l[=a]'ji-an, _n._ one who holds the views of _Pelagius_, a British monk of the 4th century, who denied original sin.--_adj._ pertaining to Pelagius.--_n._ PEL[=A]'GIANISM, the doctrines of Pelagius.
PELAGIC, p[=e]-laj'ik, _adj._ inhabiting the deep sea, marine, oceanic.
[Gr. _pelagos_, the sea.]
PELARGONIUM, pel-ar-g[=o]'ni-um, _n._ a vast genus of beautiful flowering plants of order _Geraniaceae_.--_adj._ P[=E]LAR'GIC, stork-like. [Gr.
_pelargos_, stork, the beaked capsules resembling a stork's beak.]
PELASGIC, p[=e]-las'jik, _adj._ pertaining to the _Pelasgians_ or _Pelasgi_, a race spread over Greece in prehistoric times, to whom are ascribed many enormous remains built of unhewn stones, without cement--the so-called PELASGIC ARCHITECTURE. Also PELAS'GIAN.
PeLE-MeLE. See PELL-MELL, _adv._
PELERINE, pel'[.e]r-in, _n._ a woman's tippet or cape with long ends coming down in front. [Fr., a tippet--_pelerin_, a pilgrim--L. _peregrinus_, foreign.]
PELF, pelf, _n._ riches (in a bad sense): money. [O. Fr. _pelfre_, booty; allied to _pilfer_.]
PELICAN, pel'i-kan, _n._ a large water-fowl, having an enormous distensible gular pouch: an alembic with tubulated head from which two opposite and crooked beaks extend and enter again the body of the vessel--used for continuous distillation: a dentist's instrument: (_her._) a pelican above her nest, with wings indorsed, wounding her breast with her beak in order to feed her young with her blood. [Low L. _pelicanus_--Gr.
_pelikan_--_pelekus_, an axe.]
PELIKE, pel'i-k[=e], _n._ a large vase like the hydria, double-handled.
[Gr.]
PELISSE, pe-l[=e]s', _n._ a cloak of silk or other cloth, with sleeves, worn by ladies: a garment lined with fur, a dragoon's jacket with shaggy lining. [Fr.,--Low L. _pellicea (vestis)_--L. _pellis_, a skin.]
PELL, pel, _n._ a skin or hide: a roll of parchment. [O. Fr. _pel_ (Fr.
_peau_)--L. _pellis_, a skin or hide.]