Porcine Por"cine adjective [ Latin porcinus , from porcus a swine. See Pork .] Of or pertaining to swine; characteristic of the hog. " Porcine cheeks." G. Eliot.

Porcupine Por"cu·pine noun [ Middle English porkepyn , porpentine , Old French porc-espi , French porc- épic (cf. Italian porco spino , porco spinoso , Spanish puerco espino , puerco espin , from Latin porcus swine + spina thorn, spine). The last part of the French word is perhaps a corruption from the Italian or Spanish ; confer French épi ear, a spike of grain, Latin spica . See Pork , Spike a large nail, Spine .] 1. (Zoology) Any Old Word rodent of the genus Hystrix , having the back covered with long, sharp, erectile spines or quills, sometimes a foot long. The common species of Europe and Asia ( Hystrix cristata ) is the best known.

2. (Zoology) Any species of Erethizon and related genera, native of America. They are related to the true porcupines, but have shorter spines, and are arboreal in their habits. The Canada porcupine ( Erethizon dorsatus ) is a well known species.

Porcupine ant-eater (Zoology) , the echidna. -- Porcupine crab (Zoology) , a large spiny Japanese crab ( Acantholithodes hystrix ). -- Porcupine disease (Medicine) . See Ichthyosis . -- Porcupine fish (Zoology) , any plectognath fish having the body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon , and Globefish . -- Porcupine grass (Botany) , a grass ( Stipa spartea ) with grains bearing a stout twisted awn, which, by coiling and uncoiling through changes in moisture, propels the sharp-pointed and barbellate grain into the wool and flesh of sheep. It is found from Illinois westward. See Illustration in Appendix. -- Porcupine wood (Botany) , the hard outer wood of the cocoa palm; -- so called because, when cut horizontally, the markings of the wood resemble the quills of a porcupine.

Pore Pore noun [ French, from Latin porus , Greek ... a passage, a pore. See Fare , v. ] 1. One of the minute orifices in an animal or vegetable membrane, for transpiration, absorption, etc.

2. A minute opening or passageway; an interstice between the constituent particles or molecules of a body; as, the pores of stones.

Pore Pore intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pored ; present participle & verbal noun Poring .] [ Middle English poren , of uncertain origin; confer Dutch porren to poke, thrust, Gael. purr .] To look or gaze steadily in reading or studying; to fix the attention; to be absorbed; -- often with on or upon , and now usually with over . "Painfully to pore upon a book." Shak.

The eye grows weary with poring perpetually on the same thing.

Dryden.

Poreblind Pore"blind` adjective [ Probably influenced by pore , v. See Purblind .] Nearsighted; shortsighted; purblind. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Porer Por"er noun One who pores.

Porgy Por"gy noun ; plural Porgies . [ See Paugie .] (Zoology) (a) The scup. (b) The sailor's choice, or pinfish. (c) The margate fish. (d) The spadefish. (e) Any one of several species of embiotocoids, or surf fishes, of the Pacific coast. The name is also given locally to several other fishes, as the bur fish. [ Written also porgee , porgie , and paugy .]

Porgy Por"gy noun (Zoology) Any one of numerous sparoid food fishes, as the jolthead porgy , the sheepshead porgy ( Calamus penna ) of the West Indies, the grass porgy ( Calamus arctifrons ) of Florida, and the red porgy ( Pagrus pagrus ) of Europe.

Porifera Po·rif"e·ra noun plural [ New Latin , from Latin porus pore + ferre to bear.] (Zoology) A grand division of the Invertebrata, including the sponges; -- called also Spongiæ , Spongida , and Spongiozoa . The principal divisions are Calcispongiæ, Keratosa or Fibrospongiæ, and Silicea.

Poriferan Po·rif"er·an noun (Zoology) One of the Polifera.

Poriferata Po·rif`e·ra"ta noun plural [ New Latin ] The Polifera.

Poriform Po"ri·form adjective [ Latin porus pore + -form : confer French poriforme .] Resembling a pore, or small puncture.

Porime Po"rime noun [ Greek ... practicable.] (Math.) A theorem or proposition so easy of demonstration as to be almost self-evident. [ R.] Crabb.

Poriness Por"i·ness noun Porosity. Wiseman.

Porism Po"rism noun [ Greek ... a thing procured, a deduction from a demonstration, from ... to bring, provide: confer French porisme .] 1. (Geom.) A proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain determinate problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions. Playfair.

2. (Gr. Geom.) A corollary. Brande & C.

» Three books of porisms of Euclid have been lost, but several attempts to determine the nature of these propositions and to restore them have been made by modern geometers.

Porismatic, Porismatical Po`ris·mat"ic, Po`ris·mat"ic·al adjective Of or pertaining to a porism; poristic.

Poristic, Poristical Po·ris"tic, Po·ris"tic·al adjective [ Greek ... for providing, ... provided.] Of or pertaining to a porism; of the nature of a porism.

Porite Po"rite noun [ Confer French porite . See Pore , noun ] (Zoology) Any coral of the genus Porites, or family Poritidæ .

Porites Po·ri"tes noun [ New Latin , from Greek po`ros a pore.] (Zoology) An important genus of reef-building corals having small twelve-rayed calicles, and a very porous coral. Some species are branched, others grow in large massive or globular forms.

Pork Pork noun [ French porc , Latin porcus hog, pig. See Farrow a litter of pigs, and confer Porcelain , Porpoise .] The flesh of swine, fresh or salted, used for food.

Porker Pork"er noun A hog. Pope.

Porket Pork"et noun [ Dim. of French porc . See Pork .] A young hog; a pig. [ R.] Dryden. W. Howitt.

Porkling Pork"ling noun A pig; a porket. Tusser.

Porkwood Pork"wood` noun (Botany) The coarse-grained brownish yellow wood of a small tree ( Pisonia obtusata ) of Florida and the West Indies. Also called pigeon wood , beefwood , and corkwood .

Pornerastic Por`ne·ras"tic adjective [ Greek ... harlot + ... to love.] Lascivious; licentious. [ R.] F. Harrison.

Pornographic Por`no·graph"ic adjective Of or pertaining to pornography; lascivious; licentious; as, pornographic writing.

Pornography Por·nog"ra·phy noun [ Greek ... a harlot + -graphy .] 1. Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.

2. (Medicine) A treatise on prostitutes, or prostitution.

Porosity Po·ros"i·ty noun [ Confer French porosité .] The quality or state of being porous; -- opposed to density .

Porotic Po·rot"ic noun [ Greek ... callus.] (Medicine) A medicine supposed to promote the formation of callus.

Porotype Po"ro·type noun [ See Pore , noun , and -type .] A copy of a print, writing, etc., made by placing it upon a chemically prepared paper which is acted upon by a gas which permeates the paper of the print, writing, etc.

Porous Por"ous adjective [ Confer French poreux . See Pore , noun ] Full of pores; having interstices in the skin or in the substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; permeable by liquids; as, a porous skin; porous wood. "The veins of porous earth." Milton.

Porously Por"ous·ly adverb In a porous manner.

Porousness Por"ous·ness noun 1. The quality of being porous.

2. The open parts; the interstices of anything. [ R.]

They will forcibly get into the porousness of it.

Sir K. Digby.

Porpentine Por"pen·tine noun Porcupine. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Porpesse Por"pesse noun A porpoise. [ Obsolete]

Porphyraceous Por`phy·ra"ceous adjective Porphyritic.

Porphyre Por"phyre noun Porphyry. [ Obsolete] Locke.

Porphyrite Por"phy·rite noun (Min.) A rock with a porphyritic structure; as, augite porphyrite .

Porphyritic Por`phy·rit"ic adjective [ Confer French porphyritique .] (Min.) Relating to, or resembling, porphyry, that is, characterized by the presence of distinct crystals, as of feldspar, quartz, or augite, in a relatively fine-grained base, often aphanitic or cryptocrystalline.

Porphyrization Por`phy·ri·za"tion noun The act of porphyrizing, or the state of being porphyrized.

Porphyrize Por`phy·rize transitive verb [ Confer French porphyriser , Greek ... to purplish.] To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in composition, like porphyry.

Porphyrogenitism Por`phy·ro·gen"i·tism noun [ Late Latin porphyro genitus , from Greek ...; ... purple + root of ... to be born.] The principle of succession in royal families, especially among the Eastern Roman emperors, by which a younger son, if born after the accession of his father to the throne, was preferred to an elder son who was not so born. Sir T. Palgrave.

Porphyry Por"phy·ry noun ; plural Porphyries . [ French porphyre , Latin porphyrites , from Greek ... like purple, from ... purple. See Purple .] (Geol.) A term used somewhat loosely to designate a rock consisting of a fine-grained base (usually feldspathic) through which crystals, as of feldspar or quartz, are disseminated. There are red, purple, and green varieties, which are highly esteemed as marbles.

Porphyry shell (Zoology) , a handsome marine gastropod shell ( Oliva porphyria ), having a dark red or brown polished surface, marked with light spots, like porphyry.

Porpita Por"pi·ta noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... brooch.] (Zoology) A genus of bright-colored Siphonophora found floating in the warmer parts of the ocean. The individuals are round and disk-shaped, with a large zooid in the center of the under side, surrounded by smaller nutritive and reproductive zooids, and by slender dactylozooids near the margin. The disk contains a central float, or pneumatocyst.

Porpoise Por"poise noun [ Middle English porpeys , Old French porpeis , literally, hog fish, from Latin porcus swine + piscis fish. See Pork , and Fish .] 1. (Zoology) Any small cetacean of the genus Phocæna , especially P. communis , or P. phocæna , of Europe, and the closely allied American species ( P. Americana ). The color is dusky or blackish above, paler beneath. They are closely allied to the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also harbor porpoise , herring hag , puffing pig , and snuffer .

2. (Zoology) A true dolphin ( Delphinus ); -- often so called by sailors.

Skunk porpoise , or Bay porpoise (Zoology) , a North American porpoise ( Lagenorhynchus acutus ), larger than the common species, and with broad stripes of white and yellow on the sides. See Illustration in Appendix.

Porporino Por`po·ri"no noun [ Italian ] A composition of quicksilver, tin, and sulphur, forming a yellow powder, sometimes used by mediæval artists, for the sake of economy, instead of gold. Fairholt.

Porpus Por"pus noun A porpoise. [ Obsolete] Swift.

Porraceous Por·ra"ceous adjective [ Latin porraceus , from porrum , porrus , a leek.] Resembling the leek in color; greenish. [ R.] " Porraceous vomiting." Wiseman.

Porrect Por·rect" adjective [ Latin porrectus , past participle of porrigere to stretch out before one's self, to but forth.] Extended horizontally; stretched out.

Porrection Por·rec"tion noun [ Latin porrectio : confer French porrection .] The act of stretching forth.

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