Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PER-PAIS, adv. [Per pais; Norm. French.]

In law, by the country, that is, by a jury.

PER-PARES, adv. [Per Pares.]

By the peers or his peers.

PER-PEND', v.t. [L. perpendo; per and pendo, to weigh.]

To weigh in the mind; to consider attentively. [Little used.] – Shak. Brown.

PER-PEND'ER, n. [Fr. parpaing.]

A coping stone. – Johnson.

PER-PEND'I-CLE, n. [Fr. perpendicule, from L. perpendiculum.]

Something hanging down in a direct line; a plumb line. – Dict.

PER-PEN-DIC'U-LAR, a. [L. perpendicularis, from perpendiculum, a plumb line; perpendeo; per and pendeo, to hang.]

1. Hanging or extending in a right line from any point toward the center of the earth or of gravity, or at right angles with the plane of the horizon.
2. In geometry, falling directly on another line at right angles. The line A is perpendicular to the line B.

PER-PEN-DIC'U-LAR, n.

1. A line falling at right angles on the plane of the horizon, that is, extending from some point in a right line toward the center of the earth or center of, gravity, or any body standing in that direction.
2. In geometry, a line falling at right angles on another line, or making equal angles with it on each side. – Encyc.

PER-PEN-DIC-U-LAR'I-TY, n.

The state of being perpendicular. – Watts.

PER-PEN-DIC'U-LAR-LY, adv.

1. In a manner to fall on another line at right angles.
2. So as to fall on the plane of the horizon at right angles; in a direction toward the center of the earth or of gravity.

PER-PEN'SION, n. [L. perpendo.]

Consideration. [Not used.] – Brown.

PER-PES'SION, n. [L. perpessio, perpetior, to suffer; per and patior.]

Suffering; endurance. [Not used.] – Pearson.

PER'PE-TRATE, v.t. [L. perpetro; per and patro, to go through, to finish.]

To do; to commit; to perform; in an ill sense, that is, always used to express an evil act; as, to perpetrate a crime or an evil design. – Dryden.

PER'PE-TRA-TED, pp.

Done; committed; as an evil act.

PER'PE-TRA-TING, ppr.

Committing; as a crime or evil act.

PER-PE-TRA'TION, n.

1. The act of committing a crime. – Wotton.
2. An evil action. – K. Charles.

PER'PE-TRA-TOR, n.

One that commits a crime.

PER-PET'U-AL, a. [Fr. perpetuel; L. perpetuus, from perpes, perpetis; per and pes, from a root signifying to pass.]

1. Never ceasing; continuing forever in future tame; destined to be eternal; as, a perpetual covenant; a perpetual statute. [Literally true with respect to the decrees of the Supreme Being.]
2. Continuing or continued without intermission; uninterrupted; as, a perpetual stream; the perpetual action of the heart and arteries.
3. Permanent; fixed; not temporary; as, a perpetual law or edict; perpetual love or amity; perpetual incense. – Exod. xxx.
4. Everlasting; endless. Destructions are come to a perpetual end. – Ps. ix.
5. During the legal dispensation. – Ex. xxix. Perpetual curacy, is where all the tithes are appropriated and no vicarage is endowed. – Blackstone. Perpetual motion, motion that generates a power of continuing itself forever or indefinitely, by means of mechanism or some application of the force of gravity, not yet discovered, and probably impossible. Perpetual screw, a screw that acts against the teeth of a wheel and continues its action without end. – Wilkins.

PER-PET'U-AL-LY, adv.

Constantly; continually; applied to things which proceed without intermission, or which occur frequently or at intervals, without limitation. A perennial spring flows perpetually; the weather varies perpetually. The Bible and common prayer book in the vulgar tongue, being perpetually read in churches, have proved a kind of standard for language.

PER-PET'U-ATE, v.t. [L. perpetuo.]

1. To make perpetual; to eternize.
2. To cause to endure or to be continued indefinitely, to preserve from extinction or oblivion; as, to perpetuate the remembrance of a great event or of an illustrious character, The monument in London perpetuates the remembrance of the conflagration in 1666. Medals may perpetuate the glories of a prince. – Addison.
3. To continue by repetition without limitation.

PER-PET'U-A-TED, pp.

Made perpetual; continued through eternity, or for an indefinite time.

PER-PET'U-A-TING, ppr.

Continuing forever or indefinitely.

PER-PET-U-A'TION, n.

The act a making perpetual, or of preserving from extinction or oblivion through an endless existence, or for an indefinite period of time. – Brown.

PER-PE-TU'I-TY, n. [L. perpetuitas.]

1. Endless duration; continuance to eternity.
2. Continued uninterrupted existence, or duration for an indefinite period of time; as, the perpetuity of laws and institutions; the perpetuity of fame.
3. Something of which there will be no end. – South.

PER-PHOS'PHATE, n.

A phosphate in which the phosphoric acid is combined with an oxyd at the maximum of oxydation.

PER-PLEX', a.

Intricate; difficult. [Not used.] – Glanville.