Posy noun ; plural Posies . [ Contr. from poesy .]
1. A brief poetical sentiment; hence, any brief sentiment, motto, or legend; especially, one inscribed on a ring. "The posy of a ring." Shak.

2. [ Probably so called from the use of flowers as having an enigmatical significance. Wedgwood .] A flower; a bouquet; a nosegay. "Bridegroom's posies ." Spenser.

We make a difference between suffering thistles to grow among us, and wearing them for posies .

Swift.

Pot noun [ Akin to LG. pott , Dutch pot , Danish potte , Swedish potta , Icelandic pottr , French pot ; of unknown origin.]
1. A metallic or earthen vessel, appropriated to any of a great variety of uses, as for boiling meat or vegetables, for holding liquids, for plants, etc.; as, a quart pot ; a flower pot ; a bean pot .

2. An earthen or pewter cup for liquors; a mug.

3. The quantity contained in a pot; a potful; as, a pot of ale. "Give her a pot and a cake." De Foe.

4. A metal or earthenware extension of a flue above the top of a chimney; a chimney pot.

5. A crucible; as, a graphite pot ; a melting pot .

6. A wicker vessel for catching fish, eels, etc.

7. A perforated cask for draining sugar. Knight.

8. A size of paper. See Pott .

Jack pot . See under 2d Jack . -- Pot cheese , cottage cheese. See under Cottage . -- Pot companion , a companion in drinking. -- Pot hanger , a pothook. -- Pot herb , any plant, the leaves or stems of which are boiled for food, as spinach, lamb's-quarters, purslane, and many others. -- Pot hunter , one who kills anything and everything that will help to fill has bag; also, a hunter who shoots game for the table or for the market. -- Pot metal . (a) The metal from which iron pots are made, different from common pig iron . (b) An alloy of copper with lead used for making large vessels for various purposes in the arts . Ure. (c) A kind of stained glass, the colors of which are incorporated with the melted glass in the pot. Knight. -- Pot plant (Botany) , either of the trees which bear the monkey-pot. -- Pot wheel (Hydraul.) , a noria. -- To go to pot , to go to destruction; to come to an end of usefulness; to become refuse. [ Colloq.] Dryden. J. G. Saxe.

Pot transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Potted ; present participle & verbal noun Potting .] To place or inclose in pots ; as: (a) To preserve seasoned in pots. " Potted fowl and fish." Dryden. (b) To set out or cover in pots; as, potted plants or bulbs. (c) To drain; as, to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler, and placing it in hogsheads, etc., having perforated heads, through which the molasses drains off. B. Edwards. (d) (Billiards) To pocket.

Pot intransitive verb To tipple; to drink. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]

It is less labor to plow than to pot it.

Feltham.

Pot transitive verb
1. To shoot for the pot, i.e., cooking; to secure or hit by a pot shot; to shoot when no special skill is needed.

When hunted, it [ the jaguar] takes refuge in trees, and this habit is well known to hunters, who pursue it with dogs and pot it when treed.

Encyc. of Sport.

2. To secure; gain; win; bag. [ Colloq.]

Pot intransitive verb To take a pot shot or shots, as at game or an enemy.

Pot noun
1. The total of the bets at stake at one time, as in racing or card playing; the pool; also (Racing, Eng.) a horse heavily backed; a favorite. [ Slang]

2. (Armor) A plain defensive headpiece; later, and perhaps in a jocose sense, any helmet; -- called also pot helmet .

3. (Card Playing) The total of the bets at one time; the pool.

Pot lace Lace whose pattern includes one or more representations of baskets or bowls from which flowers spring.

Pot lead Graphite, or black lead, often used on the bottoms of racing vessels to diminish friction.

Pot shot Lit., a shot fired simply to fill the pot; hence, a shot fired at an animal or person when at rest or within easy range, or fired simply to kill, without reference to the rules of sport; a shot needling no special skill.

Pot-au-feu noun [ French, lit., pot on the fire.] (Cookery) A dish of broth, meat, and vegetables prepared by boiling in a pot, -- a dish esp. common among the French. Grant Allen.

Pot-bellied adjective Having a protuberant belly, like the bottom of a pot.

Pot-belly noun A protuberant belly.

Potable adjective [ French, from Latin potabilis , from potare to drink; akin to Greek po`tos a drinking, po`sis a drink, Sanskrit pā to drink, OIr. ibim I drink. Confer Poison , Bib , Imbibe .] Fit to be drunk; drinkable. "Water fresh and potable ." Bacon. -- noun A potable liquid; a beverage. "Useful in potables ." J. Philips.

Potableness noun The quality of being drinkable.

Potage noun See Pottage .

Potager noun [ French from potage soup, porridge. See Pottage .] A porringer. [ Obsolete] Grew.

Potagro noun See Potargo .

Potale noun The refuse from a grain distillery, used to fatten swine.

Potamian noun [ Greek ... river.] (Zoology) A river tortoise; one of a group of tortoises ( Potamites , or Trionychoidea ) having a soft shell, webbed feet, and a sharp beak. See Trionyx .

Potamography noun [ Greek ... river + -graphy .] An account or description of rivers; potamology.

Potamology noun [ Greek ... river + -logy .] A scientific account or discussion of rivers; a treatise on rivers; potamography.

Potamospongiæ noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... river + ... a sponge.] (Zoology) The fresh-water sponges. See Spongilla .

Potance noun [ French potence . See Potence , Potency .] (Watch Making) The stud in which the bearing for the lower pivot of the verge is made.

Potargo noun [ Confer Botargo .] A kind of sauce or pickle. King.

Potash noun [ Pot + ash .] (Chemistry) (a) The hydroxide of potassium hydrate, a hard white brittle substance, KOH, having strong caustic and alkaline properties; -- hence called also caustic potash . (b) The impure potassium carbonate obtained by leaching wood ashes, either as a strong solution ( lye ), or as a white crystalline ( pearlash ).

Potashes noun plural (Chemistry) Potash. [ Obsolete]

Potassa noun [ New Latin , from English potash .] (Chemistry) (a) Potassium oxide. [ Obsolete] (b) Potassium hydroxide, commonly called caustic potash .

Potassamide noun [ Potass ium + amide .] (Chemistry) A yellowish brown substance obtained by heating potassium in ammonia.

Potassic adjective (Chemistry) Pertaining to, or containing, potassium.

Potassium noun [ New Latin See Potassa , Potash .] (Chemistry) An Alkali element having atomic number 19, occurring abundantly but always combined, as in the chloride, sulphate, carbonate, or silicate, in the minerals sylvite, kainite, orthoclase, muscovite, etc. Atomic weight 39.1. Symbol K ( Kalium ).

» It is reduced from the carbonate as a soft white metal, lighter than water, which oxidizes with the greatest readiness, and, to be preserved, must be kept under liquid hydrocarbons, as naphtha or kerosene. Its compounds are very important, being used in glass making, soap making, in fertilizers, and in many drugs and chemicals.

Potassium permanganate , the salt KMnO ₄ , crystallizing in dark red prisms having a greenish surface color, and dissolving in water with a beautiful purple red color; -- used as an oxidizer and disinfectant. The name chameleon mineral is applied to this salt and also to potassium manganate. -- Potassium bitartrate . See Cream of tartar , under Cream .

Potassoxyl noun [ Potass ium + ox ygen + -yl .] (Chemistry) The radical KO, derived from, and supposed to exist in, potassium hydroxide and other compounds.

Potation noun [ Latin potatio , from potare . See Potable .]
1. The act of drinking. Jer. Taylor.

2. A draught. " Potations pottle deep." Shak.

3. Drink; beverage. "Thin potations ." Shak.

Potato noun ; plural Potatoes . [ Spanish patata potato, batata sweet potato, from the native American name (probably batata ) in Hayti.] (Botany) (a) A plant ( Solanum tuberosum ) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of which there are numerous varieties used for food. It is native of South America, but a form of the species is found native as far north as New Mexico. (b) The sweet potato (see below).

Potato beetle , Potato bug . (Zoology) (a) A beetle ( Doryphora decemlineata ) which feeds, both in the larval and adult stages, upon the leaves of the potato, often doing great damage. Called also Colorado potato beetle , and Doryphora . See Colorado beetle . (b) The Lema trilineata , a smaller and more slender striped beetle which feeds upon the potato plant, bur does less injury than the preceding species. -- Potato fly (Zoology) , any one of several species of blister beetles infesting the potato vine. The black species ( Lytta atrata ), the striped ( Latin vittata ), and the gray ( Latin cinerea, or Fabricii ) are the most common. See Blister beetle , under Blister . -- Potato rot , a disease of the tubers of the potato, supposed to be caused by a kind of mold ( Peronospora infestans ), which is first seen upon the leaves and stems. -- Potato weevil (Zoology) , an American weevil ( Baridius trinotatus ) whose larva lives in and kills the stalks of potato vines, often causing serious damage to the crop. -- Potato whisky , a strong, fiery liquor, having a hot, smoky taste, and rich in amyl alcohol ( fusel oil ); it is made from potatoes or potato starch. -- Potato worm (Zoology) , the large green larva of a sphinx, or hawk moth ( Macrosila quinquemaculata ); -- called also tomato worm . See Illust. under Tomato . -- Seaside potato (Botany) , Ipomœa Pes-Capræ , a kind of morning-glory with rounded and emarginate or bilobed leaves. [ West Indies] -- Sweet potato (Botany) , a climbing plant ( Ipomœa Balatas ) allied to the morning-glory. Its farinaceous tubers have a sweetish taste, and are used, when cooked, for food. It is probably a native of Brazil, but is cultivated extensively in the warmer parts of every continent, and even as far north as New Jersey. The name potato was applied to this plant before it was to the Solanum tuberosum , and this is the "potato" of the Southern United States. -- Wild potato . (Botany) (a) A vine ( Ipomœa pandurata ) having a pale purplish flower and an enormous root. It is common in sandy places in the United States. (b) A similar tropical American plant ( I. fastigiata ) which it is thought may have been the original stock of the sweet potato.

Potator noun [ Latin ] A drinker. [ R.] Southey.

Potatory adjective [ Latin potatorius , from potare to drink.] Of or pertaining to drinking. Ld. Lytton.

Potboiler noun A term applied derisively to any literary or artistic work, and esp. a painting, done simply for money and the means of living. [ Cant]

Potboy noun A boy who carries pots of ale, beer, etc.; a menial in a public house.

Potch intransitive verb [ Confer Poach to stab.] To thrust; to push. [ Obsolete] "I 'll potch at him some way." Shak.

Potch transitive verb See Poach , to cook. [ Obsolete] Wiseman.

Potcher noun One who, or that which, potches.

Potcher engine (Paper Making) , a machine in which washed rags are stirred in a bleaching solution.

Potecary noun An apothecary. [ Obsolete]

Poteen noun [ Confer Ir. potaim , poitim , I drink, poitin a small pot.] Whisky; especially, whisky illicitly distilled by the Irish peasantry. [ Written also potheen , and potteen .]

Poteen, Potheen noun [ Ir. poitin a small pot, whisky made in private stills; confer pota pot, from English pot .] Whisky distilled in a small way privately or illicitly by the Irish peasantry.

Potelot noun [ French,; confer German pottloth black lead.] (Old Chem. & Min.) Molybdenum sulphide.

Potence noun [ French, from Late Latin potentia staff, crutch, Latin , might, power. See Potency .] Potency; capacity. [ R.] Sir W. Hamilton.

Potency noun [ Latin potentia , from potens , -entis , potent. See Potent , and confer Potance , Potence , Puissance .] The quality or state of being potent; physical or moral power; inherent strength; energy; ability to effect a purpose; capability; efficacy; influence. "Drugs of potency ." Hawthorne.

A place of potency and away o' the state.

Shak.

Potent adjective [ Latin potens , - entis , present participle of posse to be able, to have power, from potis able, capable (akin to Sanskrit pati master, lord) + esse to be. See Host a landlord, Am , and confer Despot , Podesta , Possible , Power , Puissant .]
1. Producing great physical effects; forcible; powerful' efficacious; as, a potent medicine. "Harsh and potent injuries." Shak.

Moses once more his potent rod extends.

Milton.

2. Having great authority, control, or dominion; puissant; mighty; influential; as, a potent prince. "A potent dukedom." Shak.

Most potent , grave, and reverend signiors.

Shak.

3. Powerful, in an intellectual or moral sense; having great influence; as, potent interest; a potent argument.

Cross potent . (Her.) See Illust. (7) of Cross .

Syn. -- Powerful; mighty; puissant; strong; able; efficient; forcible; efficacious; cogent; influential.

Potent noun
1. A prince; a potentate. [ Obsolete] Shak.

2. [ See Potence .] A staff or crutch. [ Obsolete]

3. (Her.) One of the furs; a surface composed of patches which are supposed to represent crutch heads; they are always alternately argent and azure, unless otherwise specially mentioned.

Counter potent (Her.) , a fur differing from potent in the arrangement of the patches.

Potentacy noun [ See Potentate .] Sovereignty. [ Obsolete]