Pluteal adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to a pluteus.

Pluteus noun ; plural Latin Plutei , English Pluteuses . [ Latin , a shed.] (Zoology) The free-swimming larva of sea urchins and ophiurans, having several long stiff processes inclosing calcareous rods.

Pluto noun [ Latin , from Greek ....] (Class. Myth.) The son of Saturn and Rhea, brother of Jupiter and Neptune; the dark and gloomy god of the Lower World.

Pluto monkey (Zoology) , a long- tailed African monkey ( Cercopithecus pluto ), having side whiskers. The general color is black, more or less grizzled; the frontal band is white.

Plutocracy noun [ Greek ...; ... wealth + ... to be strong, to rule, from ... strength: confer French plutocratie .] A form of government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the wealthy classes; government by the rich; also, a controlling or influential class of rich men.

Plutocrat noun One whose wealth gives him power or influence; one of the plutocracy.

Plutocratic adjective Of or pertaining to plutocracy; as, plutocratic ideas. Bagehot.

Plutology noun [ Greek ... wealth + -logy .] The science which treats of wealth.

Plutonian adjective [ Latin Plutonius , Greek ...: confer French plutonien .] Plutonic. Poe.

Plutonian noun (Geol.) A Plutonist.

Plutonic adjective [ Confer French plutonique . See Pluto .]
1. Of or pertaining to Pluto; Plutonian; hence, pertaining to the interior of the earth; subterranean.

2. Of, pertaining to, or designating, the system of the Plutonists; igneous; as, the Plutonic theory.

Plutonic action (Geol.) , the influence of volcanic heat and other subterranean forces under pressure. -- Plutonic rocks (Geol.) , granite, porphyry, and some other igneous rocks, supposed to have consolidated from a melted state at a great depth from the surface. Confer Intrusive rocks , under Intrusive . -- Plutonic theory . (Geol.) See Plutonism .

Plutonism noun [ Confer French plutonisme .] The theory, early advanced in geology, that the successive rocks of the earth\'b6s crust were formed by igneous fusion; -- opposed to the Neptunian theory .

Plutonist noun [ Confer French plutoniste .] One who adopts the geological theory of igneous fusion; a Plutonian. See Plutonism .

Plutus noun [ Latin , from Greek ....] (Class. Myth.) The son of Jason and Ceres, and the god of wealth. He was represented as bearing a cornucopia, and as blind, because his gifts were bestowed without discrimination of merit.

Pluvial adjective [ Latin pluvialis , from pluvia rain: confer French pluvial . See Plover .]
1. Of or pertaining to rain; rainy. [ R.]

2. (Geol.) Produced by the action of rain.

Pluvial noun [ Late Latin pluviale a garment which keeps off the rain: confer French pluvial .] A priest's cope.

Pluviameter noun See Pluviometer .

Pluviametrical adjective See Pluviometrical .

Pluvian noun (Zoology) The crocodile bird.

Pluviograph noun [ Latin pluvia rain + -graph .] A self-registering rain gauge.

Pluviography noun [ Latin pluvia rain + -graphy .] The branch of meteorology treating of the automatic registration of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.; also, the graphic presentation of precipitation data.

Pluviometer noun [ Latin pluvia rain + -meter : confer French pluviomètre .] An instrument for ascertaining the amount of rainfall at any place in a given time; a rain gauge.

Pluviometrical adjective [ Confer French pluviométrique .] Of or pertaining to a pluviometer; determined by a pluviometer.

Pluviometry noun [ Latin pluvia rain + -metry .] That department of meteorology that treats of the measurement of the precipitation of rain, snow, etc.

Pluvioscope noun [ Latin pluvia rain + -scope .] A rain gauge.

Pluviôse noun [ French See Pluvious .] The fifth month of the French republican calendar adopted in 1793. It began January 20, and ended February 18. See Vendémiaire .

Pluvious adjective [ Latin pluviosus , pluvius , from pluvia rain: confer French pluvieux . See Pluvial , adjective ] Abounding in rain; rainy; pluvial. Sir T. Browne.

Ply transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Plied ; present participle & verbal noun Plying .] [ Middle English plien , French plier to fold, to bend, from Latin plicare ; akin to Greek ..., German flechten . Confer Apply , Complex , Display , Duplicity , Employ , Exploit , Implicate , Plait , Pliant , Flax .]
1. To bend. [ Obsolete]

As men may warm wax with handes plie .

Chaucer.

2. To lay on closely, or in folds; to work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; to press upon; to urge importunately; as, to ply one with questions, with solicitations, or with drink.

And plies him with redoubled strokes

Dryden.

He plies the duke at morning and at night.

Shak.

3. To employ diligently; to use steadily.

Go ply thy needle; meddle not.

Shak.

4. To practice or perform with diligence; to work at.

Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply .

Waller.

Ply intransitive verb
1. To bend; to yield. [ Obsolete]

It would rather burst atwo than plye .

Chaucer.

The willow plied , and gave way to the gust.

L'Estrange.

2. To act, go, or work diligently and steadily; especially, to do something by repeated actions; to go back and forth; as, a steamer plies between certain ports.

Ere half these authors be read (which will soon be with plying hard and daily).

Milton.

He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter.

Addison.

The heavy hammers and mallets plied .

Longfellow.

3. (Nautical) To work to windward; to beat.

Ply noun [ Confer French pli , from plier . See Ply , v. ]
1. A fold; a plait; a turn or twist, as of a cord. Arbuthnot.

2. Bent; turn; direction; bias.

The late learners can not so well take the ply .

Bacon.

Boswell, and others of Goldsmith's contemporaries, . . . did not understand the secret plies of his character.

W. Irving.

The czar's mind had taken a strange ply , which it retained to the last.

Macaulay.

» Ply is used in composition to designate folds, or the number of webs interwoven; as, a three- ply carpet.

Plyer noun One who, or that which, plies ; specifically: (a) plural A kind of balance used in raising and letting down a drawbridge. It consists of timbers joined in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. (b) plural See Pliers .

Plyght v. & noun See Plight . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Plymouth Brethren The members of a religious sect which first appeared at Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called Brethren , Christian Brethren , Plymouthists , etc. The Darbyites are a division of the Brethren.

Pneometer noun [ Greek ... to breathe + -meter .] (Physiol.) A spirometer.

Pneumatic noun A vehicle, as a bicycle, the wheels of which are fitted with pneumatic tires.

Pneumatic, Pneumatical adjective [ Latin pneumaticus , Greek ..., from ..., ..., wind, air, ... to blow, breathe; confer Old High German fnehan : confer French pneumatique . Confer Pneumonia .]
1. Consisting of, or resembling, air; having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or solid .

The pneumatical substance being, in some bodies, the native spirit of the body.

Bacon.

2. Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties; pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments. " Pneumatical discoveries." Stewart.

3. Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic instrument; a pneumatic engine.

4. (Biol.) Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.

Pneumatic action , or Pneumatic lever (Mus.) , a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them. -- Pneumatic dispatch , a system of tubes, leading to various points, through which letters, packages, etc., are sent, by the flow and pressure of air. -- Pneumatic elevator , a hoisting machine worked by compressed air. -- Pneumatic pile , a tubular pile or cylinder of large diameter sunk by atmospheric pressure. -- Pneumatic pump , an air-exhausting or forcing pump. -- Pneumatic railway . See Atmospheric railway , under Atmospheric . -- Pneumatic syringe , a stout tube closed at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances. -- Pneumatic trough , a trough, generally made of wood or sheet metal, having a perforated shelf, and used, when filled with water or mercury, for collecting gases in chemical operations. -- Pneumatic tube . See Pneumatic dispatch , above.

Pneumaticity noun (Biol.) The state of being pneumatic, or of having a cavity or cavities filled with air; as, the pneumaticity of the bones of birds.

Pneumatics noun [ Confer French pneumatique .]

1. That branch of science which treats of the mechanical properties of air and other elastic fluids, as of their weight, pressure, elasticity, etc. See Mechanics .

2. (Philos. & Theol.) The scientific study or knowledge of spiritual beings and their relations to God, angels, and men.

Pneumato- (nū"mȧ*to- or nu*măt"o-). A combining form from Greek pney^ma , pney`matos , wind , air , breath , respiration ; as, pneumato graph, pneumato logy.
[ 1913 Webster]

Pneumatocele noun [ Pneumato- + Greek ... a tumor; confer French pneumatocèle .] (Medicine) A distention of the scrotum by air; also, hernia of the lungs.

Pneumatocyst noun [ Pneumato- + cyst .] (Zoology) A cyst or sac of a siphonophore, containing air, and serving as a float, as in Physalia.

Pneumatogarm noun [ Pneumato- + -gram .] (Physiol.) A tracing of the respiratory movements, obtained by a pneumatograph or stethograph.

Pneumatograph noun [ Pneumato- + -graph .] (Physiol.) An instrument for recording the movements of the thorax or chest wall during respiration; -- also called stethograph .

Pneumatological adjective [ Confer French pneumatologique .] Of or pertaining to pneumatology.

Pneumatologist noun [ Confer French pneumatologiste .] One versed in pneumatology.

Pneumatology noun [ Pneumato- + -logy : confer French pneumatologie .]
1. The doctrine of, or a treatise on, air and other elastic fluids. See Pneumatics , 1.

2. (Philos. & Theol.) The science of spiritual being or phenomena of any description.

Pneumatometer noun [ Pneumato- + -meter .] (Physiol.) An instrument for measuring the amount of force exerted by the lungs in respiration.

Pneumatometry noun See Spirometry .

Pneumatophore noun [ Pneumato- + Greek ... to bear.] (Zoology) One of the Pneumonophora.

Pneumatothorax noun [ Pneumato- + thorax .] (Medicine) See Pneumothorax .