Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PET'TING, ppr.

Fondling; indulging.

PET'TISH, a. [from pet.]

Fretful; peevish; subject to freaks of ill temper. – Creech.

PET'TISH-LY, adv.

In a pet; with a freak of ill temper.

PET'TISH-NESS, n.

Fretfulness; petulance; peevishness. – Collier.

PET'TI-TOES, n. [petty and toes.]

The toes or feet of a pig; sometimes used for the human feet in contempt. – Shak.

PET'TO, n. [from L. pectus, the breast.]

The breast; hence, in petto, in secrecy; in reserve. – Chesterfield.

PET'TY, a. [Fr. petit.]

1. Small; little; trifling; inconsiderable; as, a petty trespass; a petty crime. – Milton.
2. Inferior; as, a petty prince. – Denham. We usually write petty constable, petty jury, petty larceny, petty treason. [See Petit.]

PET'TY-CHAPS, n.

A small bird of the genus Motacilla, called also beambird found in the north of Europe. – Pennant. The beambird is the spotted fly-catcher, of the genus Muscicapa. – Ed. Encyc.

PET'TY-COY, n.

An herb. – Ainsworth.

PET'U-LANCE, or PET'U-LAN-CY, n. [L. petulantia; Fr. petulance.]

Freakish passion; peevishness; pettishness; sauciness. Peevishness is not precisely synonymous with petulance, the former implying more permanence of a sour, fretful temper; the latter more temporary or capricious irritation. That which looked like pride in some, and petulance for others. – Clarendon. The pride and petulance of youth. – Watts.

PET'U-LANT, a. [L. petulans.]

1. Saucy; pert or forward with fretfulness or sourness of temper; as, a petulant youth.
2. Manifesting petulance; proceeding from pettishness; as a petulant demand; a petulant answer.
3. Wanton; freakish in passion.

PET'U-LANT-LY, adv.

With petulance; with saucy pertness.

PE-TUNSE', or PE-TUNTSE', n. [or PE-TUNTZE'. pe-tuns'.]

Porcelain clay so called, need by the Chinese in the manufacture of porcelain or china-ware. It is a variety of feldspar. – Encyc. Cleaveland.

PEUR'MI-CAN, n. [pur'mican.]

Potted beef.

PEW, n. [D. puye; L. podium.]

An inclosed seat in a church. Pews were formerly made square; in modern churches in America they are generally long and narrow, and sometimes called slips.

PEW, v.t.

To furnish with pews. [Little used.] – Ash.

PE'WET, n.

1. An aquatic fowl, the sea crow or mire crow, of the genus Larus. – Encyc.
2. The lapwing. – Ainsworth.

PEW'-FEL-LOW, n.

A companion. – Bp. Hall.

PEW'TER, n. [It. peltro; Sp. peltre, from which pewter is formed by a change of l into w, as the French change belle into beau. We receive the word from the Norm. peautre.]

1. A composition of factitious metal, consisting of tin and lead, or tin, lead and brass, in the proportions of a hundred pounds of tin to fifteen of lead and six of brass. Tin alloyed with small quantities of antimony, copper and bismuth, forms the best pewter. Inferior sorts contain a large proportion of lead. Pewter was formerly in extensive use in domestic utensils or vessels; but being a soft composition and easily melted, is now less used.
2. Vessels or utensils made of pewter; as plates, dishes, porringers and the like. – Addison.

PEW'TER-ER, n.

One whose occupation is to make vessels and utensils of pewter. – Boyle.

PEX'I-TY, n.

The nap of cloth.

PHA'E-TON, n. [Gr. from φαινω, to shine.]

1. In mythology, the son of Phœbus and Clymene, or of Cephalus and Aurora, that is, the son of light or of the sun. This aspiring youth begged of Phœbus that he would permit him to guide the chariot of the sun, in doing which he manifested want of skill, and being struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, he was hurled headlong into the river Po. This fable probably originated in the appearance of a comet with a splendid train, which passed from the sight in the northwest of Italy and Greece.
2. An open carriage like a chaise, on four wheels, and drawn by two horses.
3. In ornithology, a genus of fowls; the tropic bird.

PHA-GE-DE'NA, n. [Gr. φαγεδαινα.]

A spreading obstinate ulcer; a canine appetite. – Care.

PHA-GE-DEN'IC, a. [Gr. φαγεδαινικος, from φαγω, to eat.]

Pertaining to phagedena; of the nature and character of phagedena; as, a phagedenic ulcer or medicine. Phagedenic water, is made froin quick lime and corrosive ublimate, and therefore is composed of chlorid of calcium and red oxyd of mercury.

PHA-GE-DEN'IC, n.

A medicine or application that causes the absorption, or the death and sloughing of fungous flesh. – Encyc. Hooper.