Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PER-MIS'SI-BLY, adv.

In the way of permission.

PER-MIS'SION, n. [L. permissio, from permitto, to permit.]

1. The act of permitting or allowing.
2. Allowance; license or liberty granted. You have given me your permission for this address. – Dryden.

PER-MIS'SIVE, a.

1. Granting liberty; allowing. – Milton.
2. Granted; suffered without hinderance. Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used / Permissive, and acceptance found. – Milton.

PER-MIS'SIVE-LY, adv.

By allowance; without prohibition or hinderance.

PER-MIS'TION, or PER-MIX'TION, n. [L. permistio, permixtio.]

The act of mixing; that state of being mingled.

PER-MIT', n.

1. A written license or permission from the custom-house officer or other proper authority, to export or transport goods, or to land goods or persons.
2. Warrant; leave; permission.

PER-MIT', v.t. [L. permitto; per and mitto, to send; Fr. permettre; It. permettere; Sp. permitir.]

1. To allow; to grant leave or liberty to by express consent. He asked my leave and I permitted him.
2. To allow by silent consent or by not prohibiting; to suffer without giving express authority. The laws permit us to do what is not expressly or impliedly forbid. What God neither commands nor forbids, he permits with approbation to be done or left undone. – Hooker.
3. To afford ability or means. Old age does not permit us to retain the vigor of youth. The man's indigence does not permit him to indulge in luxuries.
4. To leave; to give or resign. Let us not aggravate our sorrows, / But to the gods permit the event of things. – Addison. [The latter scene is obsolete or obsolescent.]

PER-MIT'TANCE, n.

Allowance; forbearance of prohibition; permission. – Derham.

PER-MIX'TION, n. [See PERMISTION.]

PER-MU'TA-BLE, a.

that may be changed one for the other.

PER-MU'TA-BLE-NESS, n.

State of being permutable.

PER-MU'TA-BLY, adv.

By interchange.

PER-MU-TA'TION, n. [L. permutatio, permuto; per and muto, to change.]

1. In commerce, exchange of one thing for another; barter. – Bacon.
2. In the canon law, the exchange of one benefice for another. – Encyc.
3. In algebra, change or different combination of any number of quantities. – Wallis.

PER-MUTE', v.t. [L. permuto; per and muto, to change.]

To exchange; to barter. [Not used.]

PER-MUT'ER, n.

One that exchanges. [Not used.]

PER'NAN-CY, n. [Norm. perner, to take.]

A taking or reception, as the receiving of rents or tithes in kind. – Blackstone.

PER-NI'CIOUS, a. [L. perniciosus, from pernicies; perneco, to kill; per and nex, necis, death.]

1. Destructive; having the quality of killing, destroying or injuring; very injurious or mischievous. Food, drink or air may be pernicious to life or health.
2. Destructive; tending to injure or destroy. Evil examples are pernicious to morals. Intemperance is a pernicious vice.
3. [L. pernix.] Quick. [Not used.] – Milton.

PER-NI'CIOUS-LY, adv.

Destructively; with ruinous tendency or effects. – Ascham.

PER-NI'CIOUS-NESS, n.

The quality of being very injurious, mischievous or destructive.

PER-NIC'I-TY, n. [L. pernicitas, from pernix.]

Swiftness of motion; celerity. [Little used.] – Ray.

PER-NOC-TA'TION, n. [L. pernocto; per and nox, night.]

The act of passing the whole night; a remaining all night. – Taylor.

PE-ROGUE', n. [See PIROGUE.]

PER-O-RA'TION, n. [L. peroratio, from peroro; per and oro, to pray.]

The concluding part of an oration, in which the speaker recapitulates the principal points of his discourse or argument, and urges them with greater earnestness and force, with a view to make a deep impression on his hearers. – Encyc.

PER-OX'YD, n. [per and oxyd.]

That oxyd of a given base which contains the greatest quantity of oxygen – a bad term, which ought to be entirely rejected, since different peroxyds do not always contain the same quantity of oxygen, the peroxyd of mercury being a protoxyd, the peroxyd of iron a sesquoxyd, the peroxyd of tin a deutoxyd, and the peroxyd of gold a tritoxyd.

PER-OX'YD-IZE, v.t.

To oxydize to the utmost degree. – Cutbush.