Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828)

Page 1034

Royal palmetto, the West Indian Sabal umbraculifera, the trunk of which, when hollowed, is used for water pipes, etc. The leaves are used for thatching, and for making hats, ropes, etc. -- Saw palmetto, Sabal serrulata, a native of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The nearly impassable jungle which it forms is called palmetto scrub.

Palmic

Pal"mic (?), a. [Cf. F. palmique.] (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi); -- formerly used to designate an acid now called ricinoleic acid. [Obsoles.]
Palmidactyles
Pal`mi*dac"ty*les (?), n. pl. [NL. See Palm, and Dactyl.] (Zoöl.) A group of wading birds having the toes webbed, as the avocet.
Palmiferous
Pal*mif"er*ous (?), a.[L. palmifer; palma a palm + ferre to bear: cf. F. palmif\'8are.] Bearing palms.
Palmigrade
Pal"mi*grade (?), a. [L. palma palm of the hand + gradi to walk.] (Zoöl.) Putting the whole foot upon the ground in walking, as some mammals.
Palmin
Pal"min (?), n. [From palma Christi: cf. F. palmine.] (Chem.) (a) A white waxy or fatty substance obtained from castor oil. (b) Ricinolein. [Obs.]
Palmiped
Pal"mi*ped (?), a.[L. palmipes, -edis, broad-footed; palma the palm of the hand + pes a foot; cf. F. palmip\'8ade.] (Zoöl.) Web-footed, as a water fowl. -- n. A swimming bird; a bird having webbed feet.
Palmipedes
Pal*mip"e*des (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoöl.) Same as Natatores.
Palmister
Pal"mis*ter (?), n. [From Palm of the hand.] One who practices palmistry Bp. Hall.

Palmistry

Pal`mis*try (?), n.[See Palmister.]

1. The art or practice of divining or telling fortunes, or of judging of character, by the lines and marks in the palm of the hand; chiromancy. Ascham. Cowper.

2. A dexterous use or trick of the hand. Addison.

Palmitate

Pal"mi*tate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of palmitic acid.

Palmite

Pal"mite (?), n. [From Palm.] (Bot.) A South African plant (Prionium Palmita) of the Rush family, having long serrated leaves. The stems have been used for making brushes.

Palmitic

Pal*mit"ic (?), a. (Physiol. Chem.) Pertaining to, or obtained from, palmitin or palm oil; as, palmitic acid, a white crystalline body belonging to the fatty acid series. It is readily soluble in hot alcohol, and melts to a liquid oil at 62° C.

Palmitin

Pal"mi*tin (?), n. [So called because abundant in palm oil.] (Physiol. Chem.) A solid crystallizable fat, found abundantly in animals and in vegetables. It occurs mixed with stearin and olein in the fat of animal tissues, with olein and butyrin in butter, with olein in olive oil, etc. Chemically, it is a glyceride of palmitic acid, three molecules of palmitic acid being united to one molecule of glyceryl, and hence it is technically called tripalmitin, or glyceryl tripalmitate.

Palmitolic

Pal`mi*tol"ic (?), a. [Palmitic + -oleic + ic.] (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, an artificial acid of the oleic acid series, isomeric with linoleic acid.

Palmitone

Pal"mi*tone (?), n. (Chem.) The ketone of palmitic acid.

Palm Sunday

Palm" Sun`day (?). (Eccl.) The Sunday next before Easter; -- so called in commemoration of our Savior's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the multitude strewed palm branches in the way.

Palmy

Palm"y (?), a.

1. Bearing palms; abounding in palms; derived from palms; as, a palmy shore. Pope.

His golden sands and palmy wine. Goldsmith.

2. Worthy of the palm; flourishing; prosperous.

In the most high and palmy state of Rome. Shak.

Palmyra

Pal*my"ra (?), n. (Bot.) A species of palm (Borassus flabelliformis) having a straight, black, upright trunk, with palmate leaves. It is found native along the entire northern shores of the Indian Ocean, from the mouth of the Tigris to New Guinea. More than eight hundred uses to which it is put are enumerated by native writers. Its wood is largely used for building purposes; its fruit and roots serve for food, its sap for making toddy, and its leaves for thatching huts.

Palola

Pa*lo"la (?), n. [Fr. the native name.] (Zoöl.) An annelid (Palola viridis) which, at certain seasons of the year, swarms at the surface of the sea about some of the Pcific Islands, where it is collected for food.

Pallometa

Pal`lo*me"ta (?), n. (Zoöl.) A pompano.

Palp

Palp (?), n. [Cf. F. palpe. See Palpable.] (Zoöl.) Same as Palpus.

Palp

Palp, v. t. [L. palpare: cf. F. palper.] To have a distinct touch or feeling of; to feel. [Obs.]

To bring a palp\'8ad darkness o'er the earth. Heywood.

Palpability

Pal`pa*bil"i*ty (?), n. The quality of being palpable, or perceptible by the touch. Arbuthnot.

Palpable

Pal"pa*ble (?), a. [F. palpable, L. palpabilis, fr. palpare to feel, stroke; cf. palpus the soft palm of the hand.]

1. Capable of being touched and felt; perceptible by the touch; as, a palpable form. Shak.

Darkness must overshadow all his bounds, Palpable darkness. Milton.

2. Easily perceptible; plain; distinct; obvious; readily perceived and detected; gross; as, palpable imposture; palpable absurdity; palpable errors. Three persons palpable." P. Plowman.

[Lies] gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Shak.

-- Pal"pa*ble*ness, n. -- Pal"pa*bly, adv.

Palpation

Pal*pa"tion (?), n. [L. palpatio, fr. palpare. See Palpable.]

1. Act of touching or feeling.

2. (Med.) Examination of a patient by touch. Quain.

Palpator

Pal*pa"tor (?), n. [L., a stroker.] (Zoöl.) One of a family of clavicorn beetles, including those which have very long maxillary palpi.

Palpebra

Pal"pe*bra (?), n.; pl. Palpebræ (#). [L.] (Zoöl.) The eyelid.

Palpebral

Pal"pe*bral (?), a. [L. palpebralis, fr. palpebra: cf. F. palpébral.] Of or pertaining to the eyelids.

Palprbrate

Pal"pr*brate (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having eyelids.

Palped

Palped (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having a palpus.

Palpi

Pal"pi (?), n., pl. of Palpus. (Zoöl.) See Palpus.

Palpicorn

Pal"pi*corn (?), n. [See Palpus, and Cornu.] (Zoöl.) One of a group of aquatic beetles (Palpicornia) having short club-shaped antennæ, and long maxillary palpi.

Palpifer

Pal"pi*fer (?), n. [Palpus + L. ferre to bear.] (Zoöl.) Same as Palpiger.

Palpiform

Pal"pi*form (?), a. [Palpus + -form: cf. F. palpiforme.] (Zoöl.) Having the form of a palpus.

Palpiger

Pal"pi*ger (?), n. [See Palpigerous.] (Zoöl.) That portion of the labium which bears the palpi in insects.

Palpigerous

Pal*pig"er*ous (?), a. [Palpus + -gerous.] (Zoöl.) Bearing a palpus. Kirby.

Palpitant

Pal"pi*tant (?), a. [L. palpitans, p. pr.] Palpitating; throbbing; trembling. Carlyle.

Palpitate

Pal"pi*tate (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Palpitated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Palpitating(?).] [L. palpitare, palpitatum, v. intens. fr. pappare. See Palpable.] To beat rapidly and more strongly than usual; to throb; to bound with emotion or exertion; to pulsate violently; to flutter; -- said specifically of the heart when its action is abnormal, as from excitement.

Palpitation

Pal`pi*ta"tion (?), n. [L. palpitatio: cf. F. palpitation.] A rapid pulsation; a throbbing; esp., an abnormal, rapid beating of the heart as when excited by violent exertion, strong emotion, or by disease.

Palpless

Palp"less (?), a. (Zoöl.) Without a palpus.

Palpocil

Pal"po*cil (?), n. [See Palpus, and Cilium.] (Zoöl.) A minute soft filamentary process springing from the surface of certain hydroids and sponges.

Palpus

Pal"pus (?), n.; pl. Palpi (#). [NL. See Palp.] (Zoöl.) A feeler; especially, one of the jointed sense organs attached to the mouth organs of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and annelids; as, the mandibular palpi, maxillary palpi, and labial palpi. The palpi of male spiders serve as sexual organs. Called also palp. See Illust. of Arthrogastra and Orthoptera.

Palsgrave

Pals"grave` (?), n. [D. paltsgraaf; palts palace (l. palatium) + graaf count; cf. G. pfalzgraf. See Palace, and Landgrave.] (Ger. Hist.) A count or earl who presided in the domestic court, and had the superintendence, of a royal household in Germany.

Palsgravine

Pals"gra*vine` (?), n.[D. paltsgravin: cf. G. pfalzgrafin.] The consort or widow of a palsgrave.

Palsical

Pal"si*cal (?), a.[From Palsy.] Affected with palsy; palsied; paralytic. [R.] Johnson.

Palsied

Pal"sied (?), a. Affected with palsy; paralyzed.

Palstave

Pal"stave` (?), n. [Dan. paalstav.] A peculiar bronze adz, used in prehistoric Europe about the middle of the bronze age. Dawkins.

Palster

Pal"ster (?), n. [D. palsterstaf.] A pilgrim's staff. [Obs.] Halliwell.

Palsy

Pal"sy (?), n.; pl. Palsies (#). [OE. palesie, parlesy, OF. paralesie, F. paralysie, L. paralysis. See Paralysis.] (Med.) Paralysis, complete or partial. See Paralysis. One sick of the palsy." Mark ii. 3. Bell's palsy, paralysis of the facial nerve, producing distortion of one side of the face; -- so called from Sir Charles Bell, an English surgeon who described it. -- Scrivener's palsy. See Writer's cramp, under Writer. -- Shaking palsy, paralysis agitans, a disease usually occurring in old people, characterized by muscular tremors and a peculiar shaking and tottering gait.
Palsy
Pal"sy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Palsied (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Palsying.] To affect with palsy, or as with palsy; to deprive of action or energy; to paralyze.
Palsywort
Pal"sy*wort` (?), n. (Bot.) The cowslip (Primula veris); -- so called from its supposed remedial powers. Dr. Prior.
Palter
Pal"ter (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Paltered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Paltering.] [See Paltry.]
1. To haggle. [Obs.] Cotgrave.
2. To act in insincere or deceitful manner; to play false; to equivocate; to shift; to dodge; to trifle.
Romans, that have spoke the word, And will not palter. Shak.

Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, Nor paltered with eternal God for power. Tennyson.

3. To babble; to chatter. [Obs.]
Palter
Pal"ter, v. t. To trifle with; to waste; to squander in paltry ways or on worthless things. [Obs.] Palter out your time in the penal statutes." Beau. & Fl.

Palterer

Pal"ter*er (?), n. One who palters. Johnson.

Palterly

Pal"ter*ly, a. & adv. Paltry; shabby; shabbily; paltrily. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] In palterly clothes." Pepys.

Paltock

Pal"tock (?), n. [See Paletot.] A kind of doublet; a jacket. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

Paltrily

Pal"tri*ly (?), adv. In a paltry manner.

Paltriness

Pal"tri*ness, n. The state or quality of being paltry.

Paltry

Pal"try (?), a. [Compar. Paltrier (); superl. Paltriest.] [Cf. Prov. E. paltry refuse, rubbish, LG. paltering ragged, palte, palter, a rag, a tatter, Dan. pialt, Sw. palta, pl. paltor.] Mean; vile; worthless; despicable; contemptible; pitiful; trifling; as, a paltry excuse; paltry gold. Cowper.

The paltry prize is hardly worth the cost. Byron.

Syn. -- See Contemptible.

Paludal

Pa*lu"dal (?), a. [L. palus, -udis, a marsh.] Of or pertaining to marshes or fens; marshy. [R.] Paludal fever, malarial fever; -- so called because generated in marshy districts.

Paludament

Pa*lu"da*ment (?), n. See Paludamentum.

Paludamentum

Pa*lu`da*men*tum (?), n.; pl. Paladumenta () (Rom. Antiq.) A military cloak worn by a general and his principal officers.

Paludicolæ

Pal`u*dic"o*læ (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. palus, -udis, a marsh + colere to inhabit.] (Zoöl.) A division of birds, including the cranes, rails, etc.

Paludicole

Pa*lu"di*cole (?), a. [Cf. F. paludicole.] (Zoöl.) Marsh-inhabiting; belonging to the Paludicolæ

Paludina

Pal`u*di"na (?), n.; pl. L. Paludinæ (#), E. Paludinas (#). [NL., fr. L. palus, -udis, a marsh, pool.] (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of freshwater pectinibranchiate mollusks, belonging to Paludina, Melantho, and allied genera. They have an operculated shell which is usually green, often with brown bands. See Illust. of Pond snail, under Pond.

Paludinal

Pal`u*di"nal (?), a. Inhabiting ponds or swamps.

Paludine

Pal"u*dine (?), a. [L. palus, -udis, a marsh.] Of or pertaining to a marsh. Buckland.

Paludinous

Pa*lu"di*nous (?), a.

1. (Zoöl.) (a) Paludinal. (b) Like or pertaining to the genus Paludina.

2. Of or pertaining to a marsh or fen. [R.]

Paludism

Pa*lu"dism (?), n. (Med.) The morbid phenomena produced by dwelling among marshes; malarial disease or disposition.

Paludose

Pal"u*dose` (?), a.[L. paludosus marshy.] Growing or living in marshy places; marshy.

Palule

Pal"ule (?), n. (Zoöl.) See Palulus or Palus.

Palulus

Pal"u*lus (?), n.; pl. Paluli (#). [NL., dim. of L. palus a stake.] (Zoöl.) Same as Palus.

Palus

Pa"lus (?), n.; pl. Pali (#). [L., a stake.] (Zoöl.) One of several upright slender calcareous processes which surround the central part of the calicle of certain corals.

Palustral

Pa*lus"tral (?), a. [L. paluster, -ustris.] Of or pertaining to a bog or marsh; boggy. [R.]

Palustrine

Pa*lus"trine (?), a. Of, pertaining to, or living in, a marsh or swamp; marshy.

Paly

Pal"y (?), a. [From Pale, a.] Pale; wanting color; dim. [Poetic] Shak. Whittier.

Paly

Pal"y, a. [Cf. F. palé. See Pale a stake.] (Her.) Divided into four or more equal parts by perpendicular lines, and of two different tinctures disposed alternately.

Pam

Pam (?), n. [From Palm victory; cf. trump, fr. triumph.] The knave of clubs. [Obs.] Pope.

Pament

Pa"ment (?), n. A pavement. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Pampano

Pam"pa*no (?), n. [Sp.] (Zoöl.) Same as Pompano.

Pampas

Pam"pas (?), n. pl. [Sp., fr. Peruv. pampa a field, plain.] Vast plains in the central and southern part of the Argentine Republic in South America. The term is sometimes used in a wider sense for the plains extending from Bolivia to Southern Patagonia. Pampas cat (Zoöl.), a South American wild cat (Felis pajeros). It has oblique transverse bands of yellow or brown. It is about three and a half feet long. Called also straw cat. -- Pampas deer (Zoöl.), a small, reddish-brown, South American deer (Cervus, ∨ Blastocerus, campestris). -- Pampas grass (Bot.), a very tall ornamental grass (Gynerium argenteum) with a silvery-white silky panicle. It is a native of the pampas of South America.

Pamper

Pam"per (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pampered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pampering.] [Cf. LG. pampen, slampampen, to live luxuriously, pampe thick pap, and E. pap.]

1. To feed to the full; to feed luxuriously; to glut; as, to pamper the body or the appetite. A body . . . pampered for corruption." Dr. T. Dwight.

2. To gratify inordinately; to indulge to excess; as, to pamper pride; to pamper the imagination. South.

Pampered

Pam"pered (?), a. Fed luxuriously; indulged to the full; hence, luxuriant. Pampered boughs." Milton. Pampered insolence." Pope. -- Pam"pered*ness, n. Bp. Hall.

Pamperer

Pam"per*er (?), n. One who, or that which, pampers. Cowper.

Pamperize

Pam"per*ize (?), v. t. To pamper. [R.] Sydney Smith.

Pampero

Pam*pe"ro (?), n.[Sp., fr. pampa a plain.] A violent wind from the west or southwest, which sweeps over the pampas of South America and the adjacent seas, often doing great damage. Sir W. Parish.

Pamperos

Pam*pe"ros (?), n. pl.; sing. Pampero (). [Sp. American.] (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians inhabiting the pampas of South America.

Pamphlet

Pam"phlet (?), n. [OE. pamflet, pamfilet, paunflet, possibly fr. OF. palme the palm of the hand, F. paume (see Palm) + OF. fueillet a leaf, dim. of fueil, m., F. feuille, f., fr. L. folium, pl. folia, thus meaning, a leaf to be held in the hand; or perh. through old French, fr. L. Pamphila, a female historian of the first century who wrote many epitomes; prob., however, fr. OF. Pamflette, the Old French name given to Pamphilus, a poem in Latin verse of the 12th century, pamphlets being named from the popularity of this poem.]

1. A writing; a book. Testament of love.

Sir Thomas More in his pamphlet of Richard the Third. Ascham.

2. A small book consisting of a few sheets of printed paper, stitched together, often with a paper cover, but not bound; a short essay or written discussion, usually on a subject of current interest.