Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAR'CE-NER, n. [Scot. parsenere; Norm. parconnier; from part, L. pars.]

Parcener or co-parcener is a co-heir, or one who holds lands by descent from an ancestor in common with another or with others; as when land descends to a man's daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, or their representatives. In this case, all the heirs inherit as parceners or co-heirs. – Blackstone.

PAR'CE-NE-RY, n. [Norm. parcenier.]

Co-heirship; the holding or occupation of lands of inheritance by two or more persons. It differs from joint-tenancy, which is created by deed or devise; whereas parcenery, or co-parcenery, is created by the descent of lands from an ancestor. – Blackstone.

PARCH, v.i.

1. To be scorched or superficially burnt; as, corn will dry and parch into barley. – Mortimer.
2. To become very dry.

PARCH, v.t. [I know not from what source we have received this word. It corresponds in elements with the Italian bruciare, to burn, or roast. Qu. L. peraresco.]

1. To burn the surface of a thing; to scorch; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn.
2. To dry to extremity; as, the heat of the sun's rays parches the ground; the mouth is parched with thirst. – Milton. Dryden.

PARCH-ED, pp.

Scorched; dried to extremity.

PARCH-ED-NESS, n.

The state of being scorched or dried to extremity.

PARCH-ING, ppr.

1. Scorching; drying to extremity.
2. adj. Having the quality of burning or drying; as, the parching heat of African sands.

PARCH'ING-LY, adv.

Scorchingly.

PARCH-MENT, n. [Fr. parchemin; It. pargameno; Sp. pargamino; Arm. parich or parichemin; D. parkement; G. pergament; L. pergamena; supposed to be from Pergamus, to whose king, Eumenes, the invention has been ascribed. This is probably a mere conjecture, originating in a resemblance of orthography; such conjectures being very common. In Spanish, parche is parchment, and a piece of linen covered with ointment or plaster. It is more probable that the first syllable is from some root that signifies to cleanse, purify or make clear, perhaps the root of L. purgo, or the oriental ברק or פרג. See Membrane. See Class Br, No. 9, and Class Brg, No. 4, 5.]

The skin of a sheep or goat dressed or prepared and rendered fit for writing on. This is done by separating all the flesh and hair, rubbing the skin with pumice stone, and reducing its thickness with a sharp instrument. Vellum is made of the skins of abortive or very young calves. – Encyc.

PARCH-MENT-MAK'ER, n.

One who dresses skins for parchment.

PARD, n. [L. pardus; Gr. παρδος; Syr. bardona. The word signifies spotted, from ברד, to hail, properly to scatter or sprinkle, as with hail.]

The leopard; or in poetry, any spotted beast. Instead of pard, we generally use leopard, the lion-pard. Pardale, from the Latin pardalis, is not used.

PAR'DON, n.

1. Forgiveness; the release of an offense or of the obligation of the offender to suffer a penalty, or to bear the displeasure of the offended party. We seek the pardon of sins, transgressions and offenses.
2. Remission of a penalty. An amnesty is a general pardon.
3. Forgiveness received. – South.

PAR'DON, v.t. [par'dn; Fr. pardonner; It. perdonare; Sp. perdonar; Port. perdoar; L. per and dono, to give; per having the sense of the English for in forgive, and re in L. remitto, properly to give back or away.]

1. To forgive; to remit; an offense or crime. Guilt implies a being bound or subjected to censure, penalty or punishment. To pardon, is to give up this obligation, and release the offender. We apply the word to the crime or to the person. We pardon an offense, when we remove it from the offender and consider him as not guilty; we pardon the offender, we release or absolve him from his liability to suffer punishment. I implore thee, pardon my sin. – 1 Sam. xv.
2. To remit, as a penalty. I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it. – Shak.
3. To excuse, as for a fault. – Dryden.
4. Pardon me, is a phrase used when one asks for excuse, or makes an apology, and it is often used in this sense, when a person means civilly to deny or contradict what another affirms.

PAR'DON-A-BLE, a.

1. That may be pardoned; applied to persons. The offender is pardonable.
2. Venial; excusable; that may be forgiven, overlooked or passed by; applied to things; as, a pardonable offense.

PAR'DON-A-BLE-NESS, n.

The quality of being pardonable; venialness; susceptibility of forgiveness; as, the pardonableness of sin. – Hall.

PAR'DON-A-BLY, adv.

In a manner admitting of pardon; venially; excusably. – Dryden.

PAR'DON-ED, pp.

Forgiven; excused.

PAR'DON-ER, n.

1. One that forgives; one that absolves an offender.
2. One that sells the pope's indulgences. Cowell.

PAR'DON-ING, a.

1. Disposed to pardon; forgiving; as, a pardoning God.
2. That has the right or power to pardon. I feel the utmost anxiety, when the pardoning power is appealed to, on such occasions. – Clinton.

PAR'DON-ING, ppr.

Forgiving; remitting an offense or crime; absolving from punishment.

PARE, v.t. [Fr. parer; Arm. para, to dress, to trim, to parry or ward off, to stop; Sp. and Port. parar, to parry, to stop, to prepare; Port. aparar, to pare, and to parry; L. paro; W. par, a state of readiness, also a pair; para, to continue, to persevere, to last, to endure; Fr. parer des cuirs, to dress or curry leather; parer le pied d'un cheval, to pare a horse's foot or hoof; Pers. پُرِِيدَنْ poridan, to pare or cut off; (qu. Gr. πηρος, lame; πηροω, to mutilate;) Ar. بَرَأَ to be free, to free, liberate or absolve, to dismiss, to remit, to create; Heb. Ch. Syr. and Sam. ברא, to create; Heb. and Ch. id. to cut off. The primary sense is to thrust or drive; hence to drive off, to separate, to stop by setting or repelling, as in parry, or to drive off or out, as in separating or producing. In Portuguese and Welsh, it has the sense of stretching, extending, and the Welsh unites par, equal, a pair, with the root of this word; par, a pair, what is continued to or contiguous. See ברר and ברא, Class Br, No. 6, 7, 8, 10.]

1. To cut off, as the superficial substance or extremities of a thing; to shave off with a sharp instrument; as, to pare an apple or an orange; to pare the nails; to pare a horse's hoof; to pare land in agriculture.
2. To diminish by little and little. The king began to pare a little the privilege of clergy. – Bacon. When pare is followed by the thing diminished, the noun is in the objective case; as, to pare the nails. When the thing separated is the object, pare is followed by off or away; as, to pare off the rind of fruit; to pare away redundances.

PAR-ED, pp.

Freed from any thing superfluous on the surface or at the extremities.

PAR-E-GOR'IC, a. [Gr. παρηγορικος, from παρηγορεω, to mitigate.]

Mitigating; assuaging pain; as, paregoric elixir.

PAR-E-GOR-IC, n.

A medicine that mitigates pain; an anodyne. – Encyc.

PA-REL'CON, n. [Gr. παρελκω, to draw out.]

In grammar, the addition of a word or syllable to the end of another. – Encyc.