Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PHY-TOG'E-NY, n.

The doctrine of the generation of plants.

PHY-TO-GRAPH'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to the description of plants.

PHY-TOG'RA-PHY, n. [Gr. φυτον, a plant, and γραφη, description.]

A description of plants.

PHY-TOG'RA-PHY, n.

The art of describing plants in a systematic manner. [1841 Addenda only.]

PHYT'O-LITE, n. [Gr. φυτον, a plant, and λιθος, a stone.]

A plant petrified, or fossil vegetable.

PHY-TOL'O-GIST, n. [See Phytology.]

One versed in plants, or skilled in phytology; a botanist. – Evelyn.

PHY-TOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. φυτον, a plant; and λογος, discourse.]

A discourse or treatise of plants, or the doctrine of plants; description of the kinds and properties of plants.

PHY-TON'O-MY, n. [Gr. φυτον and νομος.]

The science of the origin and growth of plants.

PHY-TOPH'A-GOUS, a. [Gr. φυτον, a plant; and φαγω, to eat.]

Eating or subsisting on plants.

PI'A-BA, n.

A small fresh-water fish of Brazil, about the size of the minnow, much esteemed for food. – Encyc.

PI'A-CLE, n. [L. piaculum.]

An enormous crime. [Not used.] – Howell.

PI-AC'U-LAR, or PI-AC'U-LOUS, a. [L. piacularis, from pio, to expiate.]

1. Expiatory; having power to atone.
2. Requiring expiation. – Brown.
3. Criminal; atrociously bad. – Glanville. [These words are little used.]

PIA-MATER, n. [Pia mater; L.]

In anatomy, a thin membrane immediately investing the brain. – Coxe.

PI'A-NET, n. [L. pica or picus.]

1. A bird, the lesser woodpecker. – Bailey.
2. The magpie.

PIANISSIMO, adv. [Pianissimo.]

Very soft.

PI'A-NIST, n.

A performer on the forte-piano, or one well skilled in it. – Busby.

PIANO, adv. [Piano.]

In music, soft.

PI'A-NO-FORTE, n. [It. piano, from L. planus, plain, smooth, and It. forte, L. fortis, strong.]

A keyed musical instrument of German origin and of the harpsichord kind, but smaller; so called from its softer notes or expressions. Its tones are produced by hammers instead of quills, like the virginal and spinet. – Encyc. Cyc.

PI-AS'TER, n. [It. piastra, a thin plate of metal, or a dollar. See Plate.]

An Italian coin of about 80 cents value, or 3s. 7d. sterling. But the value is different in different states or countries. It is called also, a piece of eight.

PI-A'TION, n. [L. piatio.]

The act of making atonement.

PI'AZ-ZA, n. [It. for plazza; Sp. plaza; Port. praça, for plaça; Fr. place; Eng. id.; D. plaats; G. platz; Dan. plads; Sw. plats.]

In building, a portico or covered walk supported by arches or columns. – Encyc.

PIB'-CORN, n. [W. pipe-horn.]

Among the Welsh, a wind instrument or pipe with a horn at each end.

PI'BROCH, n. [Gael. piobaireachd, pipe-music; Celtic pib, piob, a pipe.]

A wild irregular species of music, peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and adapted to excite or assuage passion, and particularly to rouse a martial spirit among troops going to battle. – Encyc. Jamieson.

PI'CA, n.

1. In ornithology, the pie or magpie, a species of Corvus.
2. In medicine, a vitiated appetite which makes the patient crave what is unfit for food, as chalk, ashes, coal, &c.
3. A printing type of a large size; probably named from litera picata, a great black letter at the beginning of some new order in the liturgy; hence,
4. Pica, Pye or pie, formerly an ordinary, a table or directory for devotional services; also, an alphabetical catalogue of names and things in rolls and records. – Encyc. Pica marina, the sea-pye, ostrolegus, or oyster-catcher; a grallatory aquatic fowl of the genus Hæmatopus. This fowl feeds on oysters, limpets and marine insects.

PIC'A-MAR, n. [L. pix and amarum.]

The bitter principle of pitch, an oil-like transparent fluid.