Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POP'PED, pp.

Darted in or out suddenly.

POP'PET, n. [See PUPPET.]

POP'PING, ppr.

Entering or issuing forth with a quick, sudden motion.

POP'PY, n. [Sax. popeg; W. pabi; Fr. pavot; L. papaver; It. papavero.]

A plant of the genus Papaver, of several species, from one of which, the P. somniferum or white poppy, is collected opium. This is the milky juice of the capsule when half grown, or of any other part of the plant, which exsudes from incisions in the cortical part, is scraped off, and worked in the sun's heat, till it is of a consistence to form cakes. – Encyc.

POP'U-LACE, n. [Fr. from the It. popolaccio, from populus. See People.]

The common people; the vulgar; the multitude, comprehending all persons not distinguished by rank, education, office, profession or erudition. – Pope. Swift.

POP'U-LA-CY, n.

The populace or common people. – K. Charles.

POP'U-LAR, a. [Fr. populaire; It. popolare; Sp. popular; L. popularis. See People.]

1. Pertaining to the common people; as, the popular voice; popular elections. So the popular vote inclines. – Milton.
2. Suitable to common people; familiar; plain; easy to be comprehended; not critical or abstruse. Homilies are plain and popular instructions. – Hooker.
3. Beloved by the people; enjoying the favor of the people; pleasing to people in general; as, a popular governor; a popular preacher; a popular ministry; a popular discourse; a popular administration; a popular war or peace. Suspect the man who endeavors to make that popular which is wrong.
4. Ambitious; studious of the favor of the people. A popular man is in truth no better than a prostitute to common fame and to the people. – Dryden. [This sense is not usual. It is more customary to apply this epithet to a person who has already gained the favor of the people.]
5. Prevailing among the people; extensively prevalent; as, a popular disease.
6. In law, a popular action is one which gives a penalty to the person that sues for the same. – Blackstone. Note. Popular, at least in the United States, is not synonymous with vulgar; the latter being applied to the lower classes of people, the illiterate and low bred; the former is applied to all classes, or to the body of the people, including a great portion at least of well educated citizens.

POP-U-LAR'I-TY, n. [L. popularitas.]

1. Favor of the people; the state of possessing the affection and confidence of the people in general; as, the popularity of the ministry; the popularity of a public officer or of a preacher. It is applied also to things; as, the popularity of a law or public measure; the popularity of a book or poem. The most valuable trait in a patriot's character is to forbear all improper compliances for gaining popularity. I have long since learned the little value which is to be placed in popularity, acquired by any other way than virtue; I have also learned that it is often obtained by other means. – P. Henry, Wirt's Sketches. The man whose ruling principle is duty … is never perplexed with anxious corroding calculations of interest and popularity. – J. Hawes.
2. Representation suited to vulgar or common conception; that which is intended or adapted to procure the favor of the people. [Little used.] – Bacon.

POP'U-LAR-IZE, v.t.

To make popular or common; to spread among the people; as, to popularize philosophy or physics; to popularize a knowledge of chimical principles.

POP'U-LAR-IZ-ED, pp.

Made popular, or introduced among the people.

POP'U-LAR-IZ-ING, ppr.

Making popular, or introducing among the people.

POP'U-LAR-LY, adv.

1. In a popular manner; so as to please the populace. The victor knight, / Bareheaded, popularly low had bow'd. – Dryden.
2. According to the conceptions of the common people. – Brown.

POP'U-LATE, a. [for Populous, is not now in use.]

POP'U-LATE, v.i. [It. popolare, from L. populus.]

To breed people; to propagate. When there be great shoals of people which go on to populate. – Bacon.

POP'U-LATE, v.t.

To people; to furnish with inhabitants, either by natural increase, or by immigration or colonization.

POP'U-LA-TED, pp.

Furnished with inhabitants; peopled.

POP'U-LA-TING, ppr.

Peopling.

POP-U-LA'TION, n.

1. The act or operation of peopling or furnishing with inhabitants; multiplication of inhabitants. The value of our western lands is annually enhanced by population. – United States.
2. The whole number of people or inhabitants in a country. The population of England is estimated at ten millions of souls; that of the United States in 1823, was ten millions. A country may have a great population, and yet not be populous. – Tooke.
3. The state of a country with regard to its number of inhabitants, or rather with regard to its numbers compared with their expenses, consumption of goods and productions, and earnings. Neither is the population to be reckoned only by number for a smaller number that spend more and earn less, do wear out an estate sooner than a greater number that live lower and gather more. – Bacon.

POP'U-LIN, n.

A crystalizable substance separated from the bark of the poplar tree.

POP-U-LOS'I-TY, n.

Populousness. [Not used.] – Brown.

POP'U-LOUS, a. [L. populosus.]

Full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country. A territory containing fifteen or twenty inhabitants to a square mile is not a populous country. The Netherlands, and some parts of Italy, containing a hundred and fifty inhabitants to a square mile are deemed populous.

POP'U-LOUS-LY, adv.

With many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country.

POP'U-LOUS-NESS, n.

The state of having many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country. By populousness, in contradistinction to population, is understood the proportion the number bears to the surface of the ground they live on. – Tooke.

POR'BEA-GLE, or PRO'BEA-GLE, n.

A species of shark; the Lamna cornubica. – Yarrell.

POR'CA-TED, a. [L. porca, a ridge.]

Ridged; formed in ridges. – Asiat. Res.