Powerless adjective Destitute of power, force, or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect. -- Pow"er*less*ly , adverb -- Pow"er*less*ness , noun

Powldron noun [ Old French espauleron , from espaule shoulder, French épaule .] Same as Pauldron .

Powp intransitive verb See Poop , intransitive verb [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Powter (pou"tẽr) noun (Zoology) See Pouter .

Powwow noun
1. A priest, or conjurer, among the North American Indians.

Be it sagamore, sachem, or powwow .

Longfellow.

2. Conjuration attended with great noise and confusion, and often with feasting, dancing, etc., performed by Indians for the cure of diseases, to procure success in hunting or in war, and for other purposes.

3. Hence: Any assembly characterized by noise and confusion; a noisy frolic or gathering. [ Colloq. U. S.]

Powwow intransitive verb
1. To use conjuration, with noise and confusion, for the cure of disease, etc., as among the North American Indians.

2. Hence: To hold a noisy, disorderly meeting. [ Colloq. U. S.]

Pox noun [ For pocks , Middle English pokkes . See Pock . It is plural in form but is used as a singular.] (Medicine) Strictly, a disease by pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases, -- the smallpox, the chicken pox, and the vaccine and the venereal diseases.

» Pox , when used without an epithet, as in imprecations, formerly signified smallpox ; but it now signifies syphilis .

Pox transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Poxed ; present participle & verbal noun Poxing .] To infect with the pox, or syphilis.

Poy noun [ Old French apui , apoi , a support, prop., staff, French appui , from Old French apuier , apoier , to support, French appuyer , from à to (L. ad ) + Old French pui , poi , a rising ground, hill, Latin podium . See Podium , Pew .]
1. A support; -- used in composition; as, tea poy .

2. A ropedancer's balancing pole. Johnson.

3. A long boat hook by which barges are propelled against the stream. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Poy nette noun [ Confer Point .] A bodkin. [ Obsolete]

Poynado noun A poniard. [ Obsolete] Lyly.

Poynd v. , Poynd"er noun See Poind , Poinder .

Poyntel noun [ See Pointal .] (Architecture) Paving or flooring made of small squares or lozenges set diagonally. [ Formerly written pointal .]

Poyou noun (Zoology) A South American armadillo ( Dasypus sexcinctus ). Called also sixbanded armadillo .

Poze transitive verb See 5th Pose .

Pozzuolana, Pozzolana noun [ Italian ] Volcanic ashes from Pozzuoli, in Italy, used in the manufacture of a kind of mortar which hardens under water.

Praam noun [ Dutch praam ; confer German prahm , French prame ; all of Slavonic origin, from a word akin to English fare . See Fare .] (Nautical) A flat- bottomed boat or lighter, -- used in Holland and the Baltic, and sometimes armed in case of war. [ Written also pram , and prame .]

Practic adjective [ See Practical .]
1. Practical.

2. Artful; deceitful; skillful. [ Obsolete] "Cunning sleights and practick knavery." Spenser.

Practicability noun The quality or state of being practicable; practicableness; feasibility. "The practicability of such a project." Stewart.

Practicable adjective [ Late Latin practicare to act, transact, from Latin practicus active, Greek ...: confer French practicable , pratiquer to practice. See Practical .]
1. That may be practiced or performed; capable of being done or accomplished with available means or resources; feasible; as, a practicable method; a practicable aim; a practicable good.

2. Capable of being used; passable; as, a practicable weapon; a practicable road.

Practicable breach (Mil.) , a breach which admits of approach and entrance by an assailing party.

Syn. -- Possible; feasible. -- Practicable , Possible . A thing may be possible , i. e., not forbidden by any law of nature, and yet may not now be practicable for want of the means requisite to its performance.

-- Prac"ti*ca*ble*ness , noun -- Prac"ti*ca*bly , adverb

Practical adjective [ Latin practicus active, Greek ... fit for doing or performing, practical, active, from ... to do, work, effect: confer French pratique , formerly also practique . Confer Pragmatic , Practice .]
1. Of or pertaining to practice or action.

2. Capable of being turned to use or account; useful, in distinction from ideal or theoretical ; as, practical chemistry. "Man's practical understanding." South. "For all practical purposes." Macaulay.

3. Evincing practice or skill; capable of applying knowledge to some useful end; as, a practical man; a practical mind.

4. Derived from practice; as, practical skill.

Practical joke , a joke put in practice; a joke the fun of which consists in something done, in distinction from something said; esp., a trick played upon a person.

Practicality noun The quality or state of being practical; practicalness.

Practicalize transitive verb To render practical. [ R.] " Practicalizing influences." J. S. Mill.

Practically adverb
1. In a practical way; not theoretically; really; as, to look at things practically ; practically worthless.

2. By means of practice or use; by experience or experiment; as, practically wise or skillful; practically acquainted with a subject.

3. In practice or use; as, a medicine practically safe; theoretically wrong, but practically right.

Practicalness noun Same as Practicality .

Practice noun [ Middle English praktike , practique , French pratique , formerly also, practique , Late Latin practica , from Greek ..., from ... practical. See Practical , and confer Pratique , Pretty .]
1. Frequently repeated or customary action; habitual performance; a succession of acts of a similar kind; usage; habit; custom; as, the practice of rising early; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of daily exercise.

A heart . . . exercised with covetous practices .

2 Pet. ii. 14.

2. Customary or constant use; state of being used.

Obsolete words may be revived when they are more sounding or more significant than those in practice .

Dryden.

3. Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness. [ R.] "His nice fence and his active practice ." Shak.

4. Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory .

There are two functions of the soul, -- contemplation and practice .

South.

There is a distinction, but no opposition, between theory and practice ; each, to a certain extent, supposes the other; theory is dependent on practice ; practice must have preceded theory.

Sir W. Hamilton.

5. Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the troops are called out for practice ; she neglected practice in music.

6. Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business; as, the practice of medicine or law; a large or lucrative practice .

Practice is exercise of an art, or the application of a science in life, which application is itself an art.

Sir W. Hamilton.

7. Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer.

Sir P. Sidney.

8. (Math.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.

9. (Law) The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts. Bouvier.

Syn. -- Custom; usage; habit; manner.

Practice transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Practiced ; present participle & verbal noun Practicing .] [ Often written practise , practised , practising .]
1. To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming. "Incline not my heart . . . practice wicked works." Ps. cxli. 4.

2. To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., as, to practice law or medicine.

2. To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice gunnery; to practice music.

4. To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do. "Aught but Talbot's shadow whereon to practice your severity." Shak.

As this advice ye practice or neglect.

Pope.

5. To make use of; to employ. [ Obsolete]

In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her.

Massinger.

6. To teach or accustom by practice; to train.

In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practiced to love their neighbor.

Landor.

Practice intransitive verb [ Often written practise .]
1. To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broadsword or with the rifle; to practice on the piano.

2. To learn by practice; to form a habit.

They shall practice how to live secure.

Milton.

Practice first over yourself to reign.

Waller.

3. To try artifices or stratagems.

He will practice against thee by poison.

Shak.

4. To apply theoretical science or knowledge, esp. by way of experiment; to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, esp. that of medicine or of law.

[ I am] little inclined to practice on others, and as little that others should practice on me.

Sir W. Temple.

Practiced adjective [ Often written practised .]
1. Experienced; expert; skilled; as, a practiced marksman. "A practiced picklock." Ld. Lytton.

2. Used habitually; learned by practice.

Practicer noun [ Often written practiser .]
1. One who practices, or puts in practice; one who customarily performs certain acts. South.

2. One who exercises a profession; a practitioner.

3. One who uses art or stratagem. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Practician noun [ French praticien , Old French also practicien .] One who is acquainted with, or skilled in, anything by practice; a practitioner.

Practick noun Practice. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Practico noun ; plural Practicos . [ Spanish , lit., experienced, skilled. Confer Practical .] A guide. [ Cuba & Phil. Islands] D. C. Worcester.

Practisant noun An agent or confederate in treachery. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Practise transitive verb & i. See Practice .

» The analogy of the English language requires that the noun and verb which are pronounced alike should agree in spelling. Thus we have notice (n. & v.), noticed , noticing , noticer ; poultice (n. & v.); apprentice (n. & v.); office (n. & v.), officer (n.); lattice (n.), latticed (a.); benefice (n.), beneficed (a.), etc. Confer sacrifice (...; noun & v.), surmise (...; noun & v.), promise (...; noun & v.); compromise (...; noun & v.), etc. Contrast advice (...; noun ), and advise ; device and devise etc.

Practisour noun A practitioner. [ Obsolete]

Practitioner noun [ From Practician .]
1. One who is engaged in the actual use or exercise of any art or profession, particularly that of law or medicine. Crabbe.

2. One who does anything customarily or habitually.

3. A sly or artful person. Whitgift.

General practitioner . See under General , 2.

Practive adjective Doing; active. [ Obsolete] Sylvester. -- Prac"tive*ly , adverb [ Obsolete]

The preacher and the people both,
Then practively did thrive.

Warner.

Prad noun [ Confer Dutch paard .] A horse. [ Colloq. Eng.]

Præ- A prefix. See Pre- .

Præcava noun [ New Latin See Pre- , and 1st Cave .] (Anat.) The superior vena cava. -- Præ"ca`val adjective B. G. Wilder.

Præcipe noun [ Latin , imperative of praecipere to give rules or precepts. See Precept .] (Law) (a) A writ commanding something to be done, or requiring a reason for neglecting it. (b) A paper containing the particulars of a writ, lodged in the office out of which the writ is to be issued. Wharton.

Præcoces noun plural [ New Latin See Precocious .] (Zoology) A division of birds including those whose young are able to run about when first hatched.

Præcocial adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Præcoces.

Præcognita noun plural [ Latin praecognitus , past participle of praecognoscere to foreknow. See Pre- , and Cognition .] This previously known, or which should be known in order to understand something else.

Præcommissure noun [ Prefix præ + commissure .] (Anat.) A transverse commissure in the anterior part of the third ventricle of the brain; the anterior cerebral commissure.

Præcoracoid noun (Anat.) See Precoracoid .

Præcordia noun [ Latin , from prae before + cor , cordis , the heart.] (Anat.) The front part of the thoracic region; the epigastrium.

Præcordial adjective (Anat.) Same as Precordial .

Præcornu noun ; plural Præcornua . [ New Latin See Pre- , and Cornu .] (Anat.) The anterior horn of each lateral ventricle of the brain. B. G. Wilder.