Pleased Pleased adjective Experiencing pleasure. -- Pleas"ed*ly adverb -- Pleas"ed*ness , noun

Pleaseman Please"man noun An officious person who courts favor servilely; a pickthank. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Pleaser Pleas"er noun One who pleases or gratifies.

Pleasing Pleas"ing adjective Giving pleasure or satisfaction; causing agreeable emotion; agreeable; delightful; as, a pleasing prospect; pleasing manners. " Pleasing harmony." Shak. " Pleasing features." Macaulay. -- Pleas"ing*ly , adverb -- Pleas"ing*ness , noun

Syn. -- Gratifying; delightful; agreeable. See Pleasant .

Pleasing Pleas"ing noun An object of pleasure. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Pleasurable Pleas"ur·a·ble adjective Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry.

Planting of orchards is very . . . pleasurable .

Bacon.

O, sir, you are very pleasurable .

B. Jonson.

-- Pleas"ur*a*ble*ness , noun -- Pleas"ur*a*bly , adverb

Pleasure Pleas"ure noun [ French plaisir , originally an infinitive. See Please .] 1. The gratification of the senses or of the mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish, or happiness produced by the expectation or the enjoyment of something good, delightful, or satisfying; -- opposed to pain , sorrow , etc.

At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Ps. xvi. 11.

2. Amusement; sport; diversion; self- indulgence; frivolous or dissipating enjoyment; hence, sensual gratification; -- opposed to labor , service , duty , self-denial , etc. "Not sunk in carnal pleasure ." Milton.

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.

Prov. xxi. 17.

Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

2 Tim. iii. 4.

3. What the will dictates or prefers as gratifying or satisfying; hence, will; choice; wish; purpose. "He will do his pleasure on Babylon." Isa. xlviii. 14.

Use your pleasure ; if your love do not presuade you to come, let not my letter.

Shak.

4. That which pleases; a favor; a gratification. Shak.

Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure

Acts xxv. 9.

At pleasure , by arbitrary will or choice. Dryden. -- To take pleasure in , to have enjoyment in. Ps. cxlvii. 11.

» Pleasure is used adjectively, or in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, pleasure boat, pleasure ground; pleasure house, etc.

Syn. -- Enjoyment; gratification; satisfaction; comfort; solace; joy; gladness; delight; will; choice; preference; purpose; command; favor; kindness.

Pleasure Pleas"ure transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pleasured ; present participle & verbal noun Pleasuring .] To give or afford pleasure to; to please; to gratify. Shak.

[ Rolled] his hoop to pleasure Edith.

Tennyson.

Pleasure Pleas"ure intransitive verb To take pleasure; to seek pursue pleasure; as, to go pleasuring .

Pleasureful Pleas"ure·ful adjective Affording pleasure. [ R.]

Pleasureless Pleas"ure·less adjective Devoid of pleasure. G. Eliot.

Pleasurer Pleas"ur·er noun A pleasure seeker. Dickens.

Pleasurist Pleas"ur·ist noun A person devoted to worldly pleasure. [ R.] Sir T. Browne.

Pleat Pleat (plēt) noun & transitive verb See Plait .

Plebe Plebe (plēb) noun [ French plèbe , from Latin plebs .] 1. The common people; the mob. [ Obsolete]

The plebe with thirst and fury prest.

Sylvester.

2. [ Confer Plebeian .] A member of the lowest class in the military academy at West Point. [ Cant, U.S.]

Plebeian Ple·be"ian (ple*bē"y a n) adjective [ Latin plebeius , from plebs , plebis , the common people: confer French plébéien .] 1. Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs , or common people.

2. Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common; as, plebeian sports; a plebeian throng.

Plebeian Ple·be"ian noun 1. One of the plebs , or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician .

2. One of the common people, or lower rank of men.

Plebeiance Ple·be"iance noun 1. Plebeianism. [ Obsolete]

2. Plebeians, collectively. [ Obsolete]

Plebeianism Ple·be"ian·ism noun [ Confer French plébéianisme .] 1. The quality or state of being plebeian.

2. The conduct or manners of plebeians; vulgarity.

Plebeianize Ple·be"ian·ize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plebeianized ; present participle & verbal noun Plebeianizing .] To render plebeian, common, or vulgar.

Plebicolist Ple·bic"o·list noun [ Latin plebs the common people + colere to cultivate.] One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common people; a demagogue. [ R.]

Plebification Pleb`i·fi·ca"tion noun [ Latin plebs the common people + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy .] A rendering plebeian; the act of vulgarizing. [ R.]

You begin with the attempt to popularize learning . . . but you will end in the plebification of knowledge.

Coleridge.

Plebiscitary Ple·bis"ci·ta·ry adjective Of or pertaining to plebiscite. The Century.

Plebiscite Pleb"i·scite noun [ French plébiscite , from Latin plebiscitum .] A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791. [ Written also plebiscit .]

Plebiscite we have lately taken, in popular use, from the French.

Fitzed. Hall.

Plebiscitum Ple`bis·ci"tum noun [ Latin , from plebs , plebis , common people + scitum decree.] (Rom. Antiq.) A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.

Plebs Plebs (plĕbz) noun [ Latin Confer Plebe .] 1. The commonalty of ancient Rome who were citizens without the usual political rights; the plebeians; - - distinguished from the patricians .

2. Hence, the common people; the populace; -- construed as a plural

Plectile Plec"tile adjective [ Latin plectilis .] Woven; plaited. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Plectognath Plec"tog·nath adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi. - - noun One of the Plectognathi.

Plectognathi Plec·to"gna·thi noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... twisted (fr. ... to plait, twist) + ... jaw.] (Zoology) An order of fishes generally having the maxillary bone united with the premaxillary, and the articular united with the dentary.

» The upper jaw is immovably joined to the skull; the ventral fins are rudimentary or wanting; and the body is covered with bony plates, spines, or small rough ossicles, like shagreen. The order includes the diodons, filefishes, globefishes, and trunkfishes.

Plectognathic, Plec-tognathous Plec`tog·nath"ic, Plec-tog"na·thous adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi.

Plectospondyli Plec`to·spon"dy·li noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... plaited + ..., ..., a vertebra.] (Zoology) An extensive suborder of fresh-water physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebræ united and much modified; the Eventognathi.

Plectospondylous Plec`to·spon"dy·lous adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Plectospondyli.

Plectrum Plec"trum noun ; plural Latin Plectra , E. Plectrums . [ Latin , from Greek ... anything to strike with, from ... to strike.] A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.

Pled Pled imperfect & past participle of Plead [ Colloq.] Spenser.

Pledge Pledge noun [ Old French plege , pleige , pledge, guaranty, Late Latin plegium , plivium ; akin to Old French plevir to bail, guaranty, perhaps from Latin praebere to proffer, offer ( sc. fidem a trust, a promise of security), but confer also English play . √28. Confer Prebend , Replevin .] 1. (Law) The transfer of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited, forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or deposited; something put in pawn.

» Pledge is ordinarily confined to personal property; the title or ownership does not pass by it; possession is essential to it. In all these points it differs from a mortgage [ see Mortgage ]; and in the last, from the hypotheca of the Roman law. See Hypotheca . Story. Kent.

2. (Old Eng. Law) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage. "I am Grumio's pledge ." Shak.

3. A hypothecation without transfer of possession.

4. Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties. "That voice, their liveliest pledge of hope." Milton.

5. A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge ; the mayor had made no pledges .

6. A sentiment to which assent is given by drinking one's health; a toast; a health.

Dead pledge . [ A translation of LL . mortuum vadium .] (Law) A mortgage. See Mortgage . -- Living pledge . [ A translation of Late Latin vivum vadium .] (Law) The conveyance of an estate to another for money borrowed, to be held by him until the debt is paid out of the rents and profits. -- To hold in pledge , to keep as security. -- To put in pledge , to pawn; to give as security.

Syn. -- See Earnest .

Pledge Pledge transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pledged ; present participle & verbal noun Pledging .] [ Confer Old French pleiger to give security. See Pledge , noun ] 1. To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.

2. To give or pass as a security; to guarantee; to engage; to plight; as, to pledge one's word and honor.

We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

The Declaration of Independence.

3. To secure performance of, as by a pledge. [ Obsolete]

To pledge my vow, I give my hand.

Shak.

4. To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.

5. To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast.

Pledge me, my friend, and drink till thou be'st wise.

Cowley.

Pledgee Pledg·ee" noun The one to whom a pledge is given, or to whom property pledged is delivered.

Pledgeless Pledge"less adjective Having no pledge.

Pledgeor, Pledgor Pledge·or", Pledg·or" noun (Law) One who pledges, or delivers anything in pledge; a pledger; -- opposed to pledgee .

» This word analogically requires the e after g , but the spelling pledgor is perhaps commoner.

Pledger Pledg"er noun One who pledges.

Pledgery Pledg"er·y noun [ Confer Old French pleigerie .] A pledging; suretyship. [ Obsolete]

Pledget Pledg"et noun [ Prov. E., a small plug.] 1. A small plug. [ Prov. End.]

2. (Nautical) A string of oakum used in calking.

3. (Medicine) A compress, or small flat tent of lint, laid over a wound, ulcer, or the like, to exclude air, retain dressings, or absorb the matter discharged.

Plegepoda Ple·gep"o·da noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek a stroke + -poda . In allusion to the rapid strokes of the vibrating cilia.] (Zoology) Same as Infusoria .

Pleiad Ple"iad noun One of the Pleiades.

Pleiades Ple"ia·des noun plural [ Latin , from Greek ] 1. (Myth.) The seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.

2. (Astron.) A group of small stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus. Job xxxviii. 31.

» Alcyone, the brightest of these, a star of the third magnitude, was considered by Mädler the central point around which our universe is revolving, but there is no sufficient evidence of such motion. Only six pleiads are distinctly visible to the naked eye, whence the ancients supposed that a sister had concealed herself out of shame for having loved a mortal, Sisyphus.

Plein Plein adjective Plan. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Plein Plein intransitive verb & t. To complain. See Plain . [ Obsolete]

Plein Plein adjective [ Old French & F., from Latin plenus .] Full; complete. [ Obsolete] " Plein remission." Chaucer. -- Plein"ly , adverb

Pleiocene Plei"o·cene adjective (Geol.) See Pliocene .

Pleiophyllous Plei·oph"yl·lous adjective [ Greek ... more + ... leaf.] (Botany) Having several leaves; -- used especially when several leaves or leaflets appear where normally there should be only one.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter P > Page 105 of 206.
« Previous ¦97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 ¦ Next »