Pickle Pic"kle noun [ Confer Dutch pekel . Probably a dim. from Pick , transitive verb , alluding to the cleaning of the fish.] 1. (a) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine. (b) Vinegar, plain or spiced, used for preserving vegetables, fish, eggs, oysters, etc.

2. Any article of food which has been preserved in brine or in vinegar.

3. (Founding) A bath of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid, etc., to remove burnt sand, scale rust, etc., from the surface of castings, or other articles of metal, or to brighten them or improve their color.

4. A troublesome child; as, a little pickle . [ Colloq.]

To be in a pickle , to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. "How cam'st thou in this pickle ?" Shak. - - To put a rod in pickle , to prepare a particular reproof, punishment, or penalty for future application.

Pickle Pic"kle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pickled ; present participle & verbal noun Pickling .] 1. To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers.

2. To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters.

Pickle-herring Pic"kle-her"ring noun 1. A herring preserved in brine; a pickled herring. [ Obsolete] Shak.

2. A merry-andrew; a buffoon. [ Obsolete] Addison.

Pickled Pic"kled adjective Preserved in a pickle.

Pickler Pic"kler noun One who makes pickles.

Picklock Pick"lock` noun 1. An instrument for picking locks. Shak.

2. One who picks locks; a thief. "A picklock of secrets." Jer. Taylor.

Pickmire Pick"mire` noun [ So called from its picking its food from the mire .] (Zoology) The pewit, or black-headed gull. [ Prov. Eng.]

Picknick Pick"nick noun See Picnic .

Pickpack Pick"pack` adverb Pickaback.

Pickpenny Pick"pen`ny noun ; plural Pickpennies A miser; also, a sharper. Dr. H. More.

Pickpocket Pick"pock`et noun One who steals purses or other articles from pockets. Bentley.

Pickpurse Pick"purse` noun One who steals purses, or money from purses. Latimer. Shak.

Picksy Pick"sy noun See Pixy .

Pickthank Pick"thank` noun One who strives to put another under obligation; an officious person; hence, a flatterer. Used also adjectively.

Smiling pickthanks , and base newsmongers.

Shak.

Picktooth Pick"tooth` noun A toothpick. [ Obsolete] Swift.

Picle Pi"cle (pĭk"'l) noun [ Prob. from pightel or pingle .] A small piece of land inclosed with a hedge; a close. [ Obsolete] [ Written also pickle .]

Picnic Pic"nic noun [ Confer French piquenique . See Pick , v. , and confer Knickknack .] Formerly, an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table; now, an excursion or pleasure party in which the members partake of a collation or repast (usually in the open air, and from food carried by themselves).

Picnic Pic"nic intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Picnicked ; present participle & verbal noun Picnicking .] To go on a picnic, or pleasure excursion; to eat in public fashion.

Picnicker Pic"nick·er noun One who takes part in a picnic.

Picoid Pi"coid adjective [ Picus + - oid .] (Zoology) Like or pertaining to the Pici.

Picoline Pic"o·line noun [ Latin pix , picis , pitch + ol eum oil + -ine .] (Chemistry) Any one of three isometric bases (C ₆ H ₇ N) related to pyridine, and obtained from bone oil, acrolein ammonia, and coal-tar naphtha, as colorless mobile liquids of strong odor; -- called also methyl pyridine .

Picot Pi`cot" noun [ French] One of many small loops, as of thread, forming an ornamental border, as on a ribbon.

Picotee, Picotine Pic`o·tee", Pic`o·tine" noun [ French picoté dotted, picked.] (Botany) A variety of carnation having petals of a light color variously dotted and spotted at the edges.

Picquet Pic"quet noun See Piquet .

Picra Pi"cra noun [ Latin , from Greek ... sharp, bitter.] (Medicine) The powder of aloes with canella, formerly officinal, employed as a cathartic.

Picrate Pi"crate noun (Chemistry) A salt of picric acid.

Picric Pi"cric adjective [ Greek ... bitter.] (Chemistry) Pertaining to, or designating, a strong organic acid (called picric acid ), intensely bitter.

» Picric acid is obtained by treating phenol with strong nitric acid, as a brilliant yellow crystalline substance, C ₆ H ₂ (NO ₂ ) ₃ .OH. It is used in dyeing silk and wool, and also in the manufacture of explosives, as it is very unstable when heated. Called also trinitrophenol , and formerly carbazotic acid .

Picrite Pic"rite noun [ From Greek ... bitter.] (Min.) A dark green igneous rock, consisting largely of chrysolite, with hornblende, augite, biotite, etc.

Picrolite Pic"ro·lite noun [ Greek ... bitter + -lite .: confer French picrolithe .] (Min.) A fibrous variety of serpentine.

Picromel Pic"ro·mel noun [ Greek ... bitter + ... honey: confer French picromel .] (Old Chem.) A colorless viscous substance having a bitter-sweet taste.

» It was formerly supposed to be the essential principle of the bile, but is now known to be a mixture, principally of salts of glycocholic and taurocholic acids.

Picrotoxin Pic`ro·tox"in noun [ Greek ... bitter + tox ic + -in .] (Chemistry) A bitter white crystalline substance found in the cocculus indicus. It is a peculiar poisonous neurotic and intoxicant, and consists of a mixture of several neutral substances.

Picryl Pi"cryl noun [ Picr ic + - yl .] (Chemistry) The hypothetical radical of picric acid, analogous to phenyl.

Pictish Pict"ish adjective Of or pertaining to Picts; resembling the Picts. "The Pictish peer." Byron.

Pictograph Pic"to·graph noun [ See Picture , and -graph .] A picture or hieroglyph representing and expressing an idea. -- Pic`to*graph"ic adjective

Pictorial Pic·to"ri·al adjective [ Latin pictorius , from pictor a painter, from pingere to paint. See Paint .] Of or pertaining to pictures; illustrated by pictures; forming pictures; representing with the clearness of a picture; as, a pictorial dictionary; a pictorial imagination. " Pictorial rhetoric." Ruskin. -- Pic*to"ri*al*ly , adverb

Pictoric, Pictorical Pic·tor"ic, Pic·tor"ic·al adjective Pictorial. [ Obsolete]

Picts Picts noun plural ; sing. Pict [ Latin Picti ; confer Anglo-Saxon Peohtas .] (Ethnol.) A race of people of uncertain origin, who inhabited Scotland in early times.

Pictura Pic·tu"ra noun [ Latin , a painting.] (Zoology) Pattern of coloration.

Picturable Pic"tur·a·ble adjective Capable of being pictured, or represented by a picture.

Pictural Pic"tur·al adjective Pictorial. [ R.] Sir W. Scott.

Pictural Pic"tur·al noun A picture. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Picture Pic"ture noun [ Latin pictura , from pingere , pictum , to paint: confer French peinture . See Paint .] 1. The art of painting; representation by painting. [ Obsolete]

Any well-expressed image . . . either in picture or sculpture.

Sir H. Wotton.

2. A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model.

Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects.

Bacon.

The young king's picture . . . in virgin wax.

Howell.

3. An image or resemblance; a representation, either to the eye or to the mind; that which, by its likeness, brings vividly to mind some other thing; as, a child is the picture of his father; the man is the picture of grief.

My eyes make pictures when they are shut.

Coleridge.

» Picture is often used adjectively, or in forming self-explaining compounds; as, picture book or picture - book, picture frame or picture -frame, picture seller or picture -seller, etc.

Picture gallery , a gallery, or large apartment, devoted to the exhibition of pictures. -- Picture red , a rod of metal tube fixed to the walls of a room, from which pictures are hung. -- Picture writing . (a) The art of recording events, or of expressing messages, by means of pictures representing the actions or circumstances in question . Tylor. (b) The record or message so represented; as, the picture writing of the American Indians.

Syn. -- Picture , Painting . Every kind of representation by drawing or painting is a picture , whether made with oil colors, water colors, pencil, crayons, or India ink; strictly, a painting is a picture made by means of colored paints, usually applied moist with a brush.

Picture Pic"ture transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pictured ; present participle & verbal noun Picturing .] To draw or paint a resemblance of; to delineate; to represent; to form or present an ideal likeness of; to bring before the mind. "I . . . do picture it in my mind." Spenser.

I have not seen him so pictured .

Shak.

Picture Pic"ture noun -- Animated picture , a moving picture.

Pictured Pic"tured adjective Furnished with pictures; represented by a picture or pictures; as, a pictured scene.

Picturer Pic"tur·er noun One who makes pictures; a painter. [ R.] Fuller.

Picturesque Pic`tur·esque" adjective [ Italian pittoresco : confer French pittoresque . See Pictorial .] Forming, or fitted to form, a good or pleasing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language.

What is picturesque as placed in relation to the beautiful and the sublime? It is . . . the characteristic pushed into a sensible excess.

De Quincey.

-- Pic`tur*esque"ly , adverb -- Pic`tur*esque"ness , noun

Picturesquish Pic`tur·esqu"ish adjective Somewhat picturesque. [ R.]

Picturize Pic"tur·ize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Picturized ; present participle & verbal noun Picturizing .] [ R.] 1. To picture.

2. To adorn with pictures.

Picul Pic"ul noun [ Jav. & Malay pikul , from pikul to carry on the back, to carry a burden; noun , a man's burden.] A commercial weight varying in different countries and for different commodities. In Borneo it is 135⅝ lbs.; in China and Sumatra, 133½ lbs.; in Japan, 133⅓ lbs.; but sometimes 130 lbs., etc. Called also, by the Chinese, tan . [ Written also pecul , and pecal .]

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter P > Page 84 of 206.
« Previous ¦76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 ¦ Next »