Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Paris, proper n. [Late L. < Celtic Parisii, strong ones, Gallic tribe < Celtic par, ship + gwys, men.]

Main city of France; fashion design capital; center of high style for Europe; [fig.] fickle one; Trojan prince who abducted Helen of Greece.

parish, adj. [see parish, n.]

Phrase. “Parish night”: [word play on “parish, n.” and “perish”] churchyard; cemetery; burial ground; resting place for the dead; [fig.] funeral; church service.

parish (-es), n. [AFr paroche < OFr par(r)oche or OFr paroisse, both < late L. parochia.]

1. Township; village; small municipal region.
2. Churchyard; cemetery; burial ground; [word play on “perish”] death; distance between the living and the dead.

Parley, Peter, proper n. [Fr. parler, to speak.]

Pen name of Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793-1860); New England author of Geography for Children; man who wrote a series of travel books for children; [fig.] educator; adventurer.

parliament, n. [ME < Ofr parlement < parler, to speak + -ment, speaking.]

1. Spokesperson; counsel; lawyer; advocate; defender; [fig.] word; defense.
2. Communication; discourse; articulation; ability to express emotions verbally.

parlor (-s), n. [ME parlur < AFr < OFr < medieval L. parlāre, to speak.] (webplay: distinct, house, room, speak).

1. Room; hall; showroom; place for receiving guests.
2. Mortuary; chamber where a body is kept for viewing after death and prior to burial; [fig.] casket; tomb; grave; burial vault.

part, adv. [L. pars.] (webplay: mentioned, play, small part, whole).

Partially; half; a little; in some degree; to some extent.

part (-s), n. [see part, adv.] (webplay: armies, bear, being, danger, endowments, given, God, gold, grew, griefs, immortal, joys, life, lose, mingled, moon, motion, nature, number, oftener, piece, side, small part, sort, soul, stone, stood, strain, strongly, sun, vital, whole).

1. Portion; fraction; component; piece of the whole.
2. Role; participation; share.
3. Group; number of persons; subset of all people.
4. Step; maneuver; dance movement.
5. Side.
6. Quality; attribute; characteristic; trait.
7. Inadequate substitute; poor imitation; [fig.] human companionship as compared with the presence of God; mortal existence in relationship to immortality.

part (-ed, -ing, -s), v. [Fr. part-ir.] (webplay: bear, commonly, day, decline, friends, go, God, gold, hands, hurt, inheritance, life, light, moon, oftener, party, remote part, side, sight, silver, stood, strongly, universal, whole, will).

1. Separate; divide; split up.
2. Open; sunder; spread apart.
3. Take leave of each other; depart each other's company; bid farewell.
4. Scatter apart; fly in opposite directions.
5. Keep apart; isolate from each other.
6. Release; relax; loosen; let go.
7. Phrase. “Part company”: take leave of each other; bid farewell.
8. Phrase. “Part rank”: disperse; fall out of regular formation.

partake (-n, -s, partook), v. [ME; see part, adv. and take, v.] (webplay: accuse, bear, break, bounties, consecrated bread, crumb, day, depart, distinct, estate, Gentiles, gold, immortal, logical part, look, moon, narrow, nature, night, perceptible, possession, powers, question, remote part, situated, small part, strongly, truest, truth, whole, won).

1. Ingest; consume; eat; take into the body.
2. Enjoy; participate in; have a share in.
3. Collect pollen; [fig.] enjoy flowers with all the senses.
4. Share; eat together; have in common; [fig.] experience as a sacrament.