Personal adjective [ Latin personalis : confer French personnel .]
1. Pertaining to human beings as distinct from things.

Every man so termed by way of personal difference.

Hooker.

2. Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals; peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or general; as, personal comfort; personal desire.

The words are conditional, -- If thou doest well, -- and so personal to Cain.

Locke.

3. Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance; corporeal; as, personal charms. Addison.

4. Done in person; without the intervention of another. " Personal communication." Fabyan.

The immediate and personal speaking of God.

White.

5. Relating to an individual, his character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner; as, personal reflections or remarks.

6. (Gram.) Denoting person; as, a personal pronoun.

Personal action (Law) , a suit or action by which a man claims a debt or personal duty, or damages in lieu of it; or wherein he claims satisfaction in damages for an injury to his person or property, or the specific recovery of goods or chattels; -- opposed to real action . -- Personal equation . (Astron.) See under Equation . -- Personal estate or property (Law) , movables; chattels; -- opposed to real estate or property . It usually consists of things temporary and movable, including all subjects of property not of a freehold nature. -- Personal identity (Metaph.) , the persistent and continuous unity of the individual person, which is attested by consciousness. -- Personal pronoun (Gram.) , one of the pronouns I , thou , he , she , it , and their plurals. -- Personal representatives (Law) , the executors or administrators of a person deceased. -- Personal rights , rights appertaining to the person; as, the rights of a personal security, personal liberty, and private property. -- Personal tithes . See under Tithe . -- Personal verb (Gram.) , a verb which is modified or inflected to correspond with the three persons.

Personal noun (Law) A movable; a chattel.

Personalism noun The quality or state of being personal; personality. [ R.]

Personality noun ; plural Personalities . [ Confer French personnalité . Confer Personality .]
1. That which constitutes distinction of person; individuality.

Personality is individuality existing in itself, but with a nature as a ground.

Coleridge.

2. Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks; as, indulgence in personalities .

Sharp personalities were exchanged.

Macaulay.

3. (Law) That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons. Burrill.

Personalize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Personalized ; present participle & verbal noun Personalizing .] To make personal. "They personalize death." H. Spencer.

Personally adverb
1. In a personal manner; by bodily presence; in person; not by representative or substitute; as, to deliver a letter personally .

He, being cited, personally came not.

Grafton.

2. With respect to an individual; as regards the person; individually; particularly.

She bore a mortal hatred to the house of Lancaster, and personally to the king.

Bacon.

3. With respect to one's individuality; as regards one's self; as, personally I have no feeling in the matter.

Personalty noun
1. The state of being a person; personality. [ R.]

2. (Law) Personal property, as distinguished from realty or real property.

Personate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Personated ; present participle & verbal noun Personating .] [ Latin personare to cry out, Late Latin , to extol. See Person .] To celebrate loudly; to extol; to praise. [ Obsolete]

In fable, hymn, or song so personating
Their gods ridiculous.

Milton.

Personate transitive verb [ Latin personatus masked, assumed, fictitious, from persona a mask. See Person .]
1. To assume the character of; to represent by a fictitious appearance; to act the part of; hence, to counterfeit; to feign; as, he tried to personate his brother; a personated devotion. Hammond.

2. To set forth in an unreal character; to disguise; to mask. [ R.] "A personated mate." Milton.

3. To personify; to typify; to describe. Shak.

Personate intransitive verb To play or assume a character.

Personate adjective [ Latin personatus masked.] (Botany) Having the throat of a bilabiate corolla nearly closed by a projection of the base of the lower lip; masked, as in the flower of the snapdragon.

Personation noun The act of personating, or conterfeiting the person or character of another.

Personator noun One who personates. "The personators of these actions." B. Jonson.

Personeity noun Personality. [ R.] Coleridge.

Personification noun [ Confer French personnification .]
1. The act of personifying; impersonation; embodiment. C. Knight.

2. (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with personality; prosopop...ia; as, the floods clap their hands. "Confusion heards his voice." Milton.

Personifier noun One who personifies.

Personify transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Personified ; present participle & verbal noun Personifying .] [ Person + -fy : confer French personnifier .]
1. To regard, treat, or represent as a person; to represent as a rational being.

The poets take the liberty of personifying inanimate things.

Chesterfield.

2. To be the embodiment or personification of; to impersonate; as, he personifies the law.

Personize transitive verb To personify. [ R.]

Milton has personized them.

J. Richardson.

Personnel noun [ French See Personal .] The body of persons employed in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished from matériel .

Perspective adjective [ Latin perspicere , perspectum , to look through; per + spicere , specere , to look: confer French perspectif ; or from English perspective , noun See Spy , noun ]
1. Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

2. Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective.

Perspective plane , the plane or surface on which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; -- distinguished from the ground plane , which is that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique perspective ; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective . -- Perspective shell (Zoology) , any shell of the genus Solarium and allied genera. See Solarium .

Perspective noun [ French perspective , from perspectif : confer Italian perspettiva . See Perspective , adjective ]
1. A glass through which objects are viewed. [ Obsolete] "Not a perspective , but a mirror." Sir T. Browne.

2. That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista. "The perspective of life." Goldsmith.

3. The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, aërial perspective , the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects.

Aërial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc.

Ruskin.

4. The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; -- called also linear perspective .

5. A drawing in linear perspective.

Isometrical perspective , an inaccurate term for a mechanical way of representing objects in the direction of the diagonal of a cube. -- Perspective glass , a telescope which shows objects in the right position.

Perspectively adverb
1. Optically; as through a glass. [ R.]

You see them perspectively .

Shak.

2. According to the rules of perspective.

Perspectograph noun [ Latin perspectus (past participle of perspicere to look through) + - graph .] An instrument for obtaining, and transferring to a picture, the points and outlines of objects, so as to represent them in their proper geometrical relations as viewed from some one point.

Perspectography noun The science or art of delineating objects according to the laws of perspective; the theory of perspective.

Perspicable adjective [ Latin perspicabilis , from perspicere .] Discernible. [ Obsolete] Herbert.

Perspicacious adjective [ Latin perspicax , -acis , from perspicere to look through: confer French perspicace . See Perspective .]
1. Having the power of seeing clearly; quick-sighted; sharp of sight.

2. Fig.: Of acute discernment; keen.

-- Per`spi*ca"cious*ly , adverb -- Per`spi*ca"cious*ness , noun

Perspicacity noun [ Latin perspicacitas : confer French perspicacité . See Perspicacious .] The state of being perspicacious; acuteness of sight or of intelligence; acute discernment. Sir T. Browne.

Perspicacy noun Perspicacity. [ Obsolete]

Perspicience noun [ Latin perspicientia , from perspiciens , past participle of perspicere . See Perspective .] The act of looking sharply. [ Obsolete] Bailey.

Perspicil noun [ Late Latin perspicilla , from Latin perspicere to look through.] An optical glass; a telescope. [ Obsolete] Crashaw.

Perspicuity noun [ Latin perspicuitas : confer French perspicuité .]
1. The quality or state of being transparent or translucent. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

2. The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

3. Sagacity; perspicacity.

Syn. -- Clearness; perspicuousness; plainness; distinctness; lucidity; transparency. See Clearness .

Perspicuous adjective [ Latin perspicuus , from perspicere to look through. See Perspective .]
1. Capable of being through; transparent; translucent; not opaque. [ Obsolete] Peacham.

2. Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous ." Shak.

-- Per*spic"u*ous*ly , adverb -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness , noun

Perspirability noun The quality or state of being perspirable.

Perspirable adjective [ Confer French perspirable .]
1. Capable of being perspired. Sir T. Browne.

2. Emitting perspiration; perspiring. [ R.] Bacon.

Perspiration noun [ Confer French perspiration .]
1. The act or process of perspiring.

2. That which is excreted through the skin; sweat.

» A man of average weight throws off through the skin during 24 hours about 18 ounces of water, 300 grains of solid matter, and 400 grains of carbonic acid gas. Ordinarily, this constant exhalation is not apparent, and the excretion is then termed insensible perspiration .

Perspirative adjective Performing the act of perspiration; perspiratory.

Perspiratory adjective Of, pertaining to, or producing, perspiration; as, the perspiratory ducts.

Perspire intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Perspired ; present participle & verbal noun Perspiring .] [ Latin perspirare to breathe through; per + spirare . See Per- , and Spirit .]
1. (Physiol.) To excrete matter through the skin; esp., to excrete fluids through the pores of the skin; to sweat.

2. To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin; as, a fluid perspires .

Perspire transitive verb To emit or evacuate through the pores of the skin; to sweat; to excrete through pores.

Firs . . . perspire a fine balsam of turpentine.

Smollett.

Perstreperous adjective [ Latin perstrepere to make a great noise.] Noisy; obstreperous. [ Obsolete] Ford.

Perstringe transitive verb [ Latin perstringere ; per + stringere to bind up, to touch upon.]
1. To touch; to graze; to glance on. [ Obsolete]

2. To criticise; to touch upon. [ R.] Evelyn.

Persuadable adjective That may be persuaded. -- Per*suad"a*ble*ness , noun -- Per*suad"a*bly , adverb

Persuade transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Persuaded ; present participle & verbal noun Persuading .] [ Latin persuadere , persuasum ; per + suadere to advise, persuade: confer French persuader . See Per- , and Suasion .]
1. To influence or gain over by argument, advice, entreaty, expostulation, etc.; to draw or incline to a determination by presenting sufficient motives.

Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Acts xxvi. 28.

We will persuade him, be it possible.

Shak.

2. To try to influence. [ Obsolescent]

Hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you.

2 Kings xviii. 32.

3. To convince by argument, or by reasons offered or suggested from reflection, etc.; to cause to believe.

Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.

Hebrew vi. 9.

4. To inculcate by argument or expostulation; to advise; to recommend. Jer. Taylor.

Syn. -- To convince; induce; prevail on; win over; allure; entice. See Convince .

Persuade intransitive verb To use persuasion; to plead; to prevail by persuasion. Shak.

Persuade noun Persuasion. [ Obsolete] Beau. & Fl.

Persuaded past participle & adjective Prevailed upon; influenced by argument or entreaty; convinced. -- Per*suad"ed*ly , adverb -- Per*suad"ed*ness , noun

Persuader noun One who, or that which, persuades or influences. "Powerful persuaders ." Milton.

Persuasibility noun Capability of being persuaded. Hawthorne.

Persuasible adjective [ Confer Latin persuasibilis persuasive, French persuasible persuasible.]
1. Capable of being persuaded; persuadable.

2. Persuasive. [ Obsolete] Bale.

-- Per*sua"si*ble*ness , noun -- Per*sua"si*bly , adverb

Persuasion noun [ Latin persuasio ; Confer French persuasion .]
1. The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.

For thou hast all the arts of fine persuasion .

Otway.

2. The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced.

If the general persuasion of all men does so account it.

Hooker.

My firm persuasion is, at least sometimes,
That Heaven will weigh man's virtues and his crimes
With nice attention.

Cowper.

3. A creed or belief; a sect or party adhering to a certain creed or system of opinions; as, of the same persuasion ; all persuasions are agreed.

Of whatever state or persuasion , religious or political.

Jefferson.

4. The power or quality of persuading; persuasiveness.

Is 't possible that my deserts to you
Can lack persuasion ?

Shak.

5. That which persuades; a persuasive. [ R.]

Syn. -- See Conviction .