Select a letter for some words
Paleographist
One versed in paleography; a paleographer.
Palmiped
Web-footed, as a water fowl.
Panoistic
Producing ova only; -- said of the ovaries of certain insects which do not produce vitelligenous cells.
papaya
A tree () of tropical America, belonging to the order ; called also and . It has a soft, spongy stem, eighteen or twenty feet high, crowned with a tuft of large, long-stalked, palmately lobed leaves. The milky juice of the plant is said to have the property of making meat tender.
Pargetory
Something made of, or covered with, parget, or plaster.
Pated
Having a pate; -- used only in composition;
Path
To make a path in, or on (something), or for (some one).
Penicil
A tent or pledget for wounds or ulcers.
Peninsulate
To form into a peninsula.
Penstemon
A large genus of subshrubs or herbs having showy blue or purple or red or yellow or white flowers; found mostly in Western North America.
Pentane
Any one of the three metameric hydrocarbons, , of the methane or paraffin series. They are colorless, volatile liquids, two of which occur in petroleum. So called because of the carbon atoms in the molecule.
Pentecost
A solemn festival of the Jews; -- so called because celebrated on the fiftieth day (seven weeks) after the second day of the Passover (which fell on the sixteenth of the Jewish month Nisan); -- hence called, also, the . At this festival an offering of the first fruits of the harvest was made. By the Jews it was generally regarded as commemorative of the gift of the law on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt.
Penthouse
A shed or roof sloping from the main wall or building, as over a door or window; a lean-to. Also figuratively.
Penult
The last syllable but one of a word; the syllable preceding the final one.
Periclinium
The involucre which surrounds the common receptacle in composite flowers.
Perilymphatic
Pertaining to, or containing, perilymph.
Periwinkle
A trailing herb of the genus .
Perofskite
A titanate of lime occurring in octahedral or cubic crystals.
Pertinacity
The quality or state of being pertinacious; obstinacy; perseverance; persistency.
Pet
To be a pet.
Petrescence
The process of changing into stone; petrification.
Petrolatum
A semisolid unctuous substance, neutral, and without taste or odor, derived from petroleum by distilling off the lighter portions and purifying the residue. It is a yellowish, fatlike mass, transparent in thin layers, and somewhat fluorescent. It is used as a bland protective dressing, and as a substitute for fatty materials in ointments.
Phantasmagoria
An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.
Phatagin
The long-tailed pangolin (); -- called also .
Philatory
A kind of transparent reliquary with an ornamental top.
Phonetics
The doctrine or science of sounds; especially those of the human voice; phonology.
Phonetist
One versed in phonetics; a phonologist.
Phosphorogenic
Generating phosphorescence; .
Photo-electric cell
A cell (as one of two electrodes embedded in selenium) which by exposure to light generates an electric current.
Photogalvanography
The art or process of making photo-electrotypes.
Photologist
One who studies or expounds the laws of light.
Photometrician
One engaged in the scientific measurement of light.
Phrase
To use proper or fine phrases.
Phrenetic
One who is phrenetic.
Picaresque
Applied to that class of literature in which the principal personage is the Spanish , meaning a rascal, a knave, a rogue, an adventurer.
Pilot
To direct the course of, as of a ship, where navigation is dangerous.
Pinching
Compressing; nipping; griping; niggardly;
Plaid
Having a pattern or colors which resemble a Scotch plaid; checkered or marked with bars or stripes at right angles to one another; .
Plaquette
A small plaque, esp., in modern medal engraving, a small and delicate bas-relief, whether cast or struck from a die, or of form other than circular.
Platyclian
Flat at the anterior and concave at the posterior end; -- said of the centra of the vertebr of some extinct dinouaurs.
Plein
To complain. See .
Pliers
A kind of small pinchers with long jaws, -- used for bending or cutting metal rods or wire, for handling small objects such as the parts of a watch, etc.
Pollinate
To apply pollen to (a stigma).
Polonium
A radioactive chemical element, discovered by M. and MMe. Curie in pitchblende, and originally called . It has atomic number 84 and an atomic weight of 210. It is a very rare natural element, having an abundance in uranium ores only 0.2% that of radium. It is closely related chemically to bismuth. It emits only alpha rays, and has a half-life of 138 days. It is thus more unstable than radium, and a milligram of polonium emits as many alpha particles as 5 grams of radium. Twenty-seven isotopes are known, with atomic masses from 192 to 218. At present a more practical method of preparation than isolation from ores is the preparation by neutron bombardment of bismuth in a nuclear reactor, and it may be obtained commercially by users having an appropriate permit.
Polyphony
Multiplicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of an echo.
Pomander
A perfume to be carried with one, often in the form of a ball.
Ponderation
The act of weighing.
Poodle
A breed of dogs having curly hair, and often showing remarkable intelligence in the performance of tricks.
Popery
The religion of the Roman Catholic Church, comprehending doctrines and practices; -- generally used in an opprobrious sense.
Porosity
The quality or state of being porous; -- opposed to .
Porpus
A porpoise.
Postscenium
The part of a theater behind the scenes; the back part of the stage of a theater.
Practician
One who is acquainted with, or skilled in, anything by practice; a practitioner.
Preataxic
Occurring before the symptom ataxia has developed; -- applied to the early symptoms of locomotor ataxia.
Predecessor
One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.
Premption
The act or right of purchasing before others.
Prelumbar
Situated immediately in front of the loins; -- applied to the dorsal part of the abdomen.
Preserve
That which is preserved; fruit, etc., seasoned and kept by suitable preparation; esp., fruit cooked with sugar; -- commonly in the plural.
Prestigiation
Legerdemain; prestidigitation.
Prezygapophysis
An anterior zygapophysis.
Primogenitor
The first ancestor; a forefather.
Probationership
The state of being a probationer; novitiate.
Productus
An extinct genus of brachiopods, very characteristic of the Carboniferous rocks.
Profligateness
The quality of being profligate; an abandoned course of life; profligacy.
Proin
To lop; to trim; to prune; to adorn.
Promorphological
Relating to promorphology; .
Propagandist
A person who devotes himself to the spread of any system of principles.
Prose
The ordinary language of men in speaking or writing; language not cast in poetical measure or rhythm; -- contradistinguished from , or .
Psalmograph
A writer of psalms; a psalmographer.
Pseudoneuropterous
Of or pertaining to the Pseudoneuroptera.
Pseudopodial
Of or pertaining to a pseudopod, or to pseudopodia. See of .
Puff-legged
Having a conspicuous tuft of feathers on the legs.
Pulingly
With whining or complaint.
Pullman car
A kind of sleeping car; also, a palace car; -- often shortened to .
Pulvil
To apply pulvil to.
Punctuate
To mark with points; to separate into sentences, clauses, etc., by points or stops which mark the proper pauses in expressing the meaning.
Purify
To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter;
Purse-proud
Affected with purse pride; puffed up with the possession of riches.
Puseyite
One who holds the principles of Puseyism; -- often used opprobriously.
Push
To press against with force; to drive or impel by pressure; to endeavor to drive by steady pressure, without striking; -- opposed to .
Pusley
Purslane.
Pyramidion
The small pyramid which crowns or completes an obelisk.
Pyroacetic
Pertaining to, and designating, a substance (acetone) obtained by the distillation of the acetates. It is now called also , and formerly was called .
Pyrogen
Electricity.