Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PIT'I-LESS-LY, adv.

Without mercy or compassion. – Sherwood.

PIT'I-LESS-NESS, n.

Unmercifulness; insensibility to the distresses of others.

PIT'MAN, n.

1. The piece of timber which connects the lower end of a mill-saw with the wheel that moves it.
2. The man that stands in a pit when sawing timber with another man who stands above. – Moxon.

PIT'-SAW, n.

A large saw used in dividing timber, and used by two men, one of whom stands in a pit below. – Moxon.

PIT'TA-CALL, n. [Gr. πιττα, pitch, and καλλος, beauty.]

A substance obtained from wood tar.

PIT'TANCE, n. [Fr. pitance; It. pietanza; Port. pitânça.]

1. The word signifies primarily, a portion of food allowed to a monk. The Spanish has pitar, to distribute allowances of meat, and pitancero, a person who distributes allowances, or a friar who lives on charity.]
2. An allowance of meat in a monastery.
3. A very small portion allowed or assigned. – Shak.
4. A very small quantity. – Arbuthnot.

PIT-U'I-TA-RY, a. [L. pituita, phlegm, rheum; Gr. πτυω, to spit.]

That secretes phlegm or mucus; as, the pituitary membrane. Med. Repos. The pituitary gland is a small oval body on the lower side of the brain; erroneously supposed by the ancients to secrete the mucus of the nostrils. – Parr. Quincy.

PIT'U-ITE, n. [Fr. from L. pituita.]

Mucus.

PIT-U'I-TOUS, a. [L. pituitosus.]

Consisting of mucus, or resembling it in qualities.

PIT'Y, n. [Fr. pitié; It. pietà, pity and piety; Sp. pietad, pity and piety; Port. piedade, id. The Latin, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages unite pity and piety in the same word, and the word may be from the root of compassion; L. patior, to suffer; It. compatire, Sp. and Port. compadecerse, to pity.]

1. The feeling or suffering of one person, excited by the distresses of another; sympathy with the grief or misery of another; compassion or fellow-suffering. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord. – Prov. xix. In Scripture, however, the word pity usually includes compassion accompanied with some act of charity or benevolence, and not simply a fellow feeling of distress. Pity is always painful, yet always agreeable. – Kames.
2. The ground or subject of pity; cause of grief; thing to be regretted. What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country! – Addison. That he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witness it. – Shak. In this sense the word has a plural. It is a thousand pities he should waste his estate in prodigality.

PIT'Y, v.i.

To be compassionate; to exercise pity. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy. – Jer. xiii. [But this may be considered as an elliptical phrase.]

PIT'Y, v.t. [Fr. pitoyer.]

To feel pain or grief for one in distress; to have sympathy for; to compassionate; to have tender feelings for one, excited by his unhappiness. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. – Ps. ciii. Taught by that power who pities me, / I learn to pity them. – Goldsmith.

PIT'Y-ING, ppr.

Compassionating; sympathizing.

PIT'Y-ING-LY, adv.

Sympathizingly; compassionately.

PIV'OT, n.¹ [Fr. In Italian, pivolo or piulo, is a peg or pin.]

A pin on which any thing turns. – Dryden.

PIV'OT, n.²

In military affairs, the officer or soldier upon whom the different wheelings are made in the various evolutions of the drill. – Brande.

PIX, n. [L. pyxis.]

1. A little box or chest in which the consecrated host is kept in Roman Catholic countries. – Hanmer.
2. A box used for the trial of gold and silver coin. – Leake.

PIZ'ZLE, n. [D. pees, a tendon or string.]

In certain quadrupeds, the part which is official to generation and the discharge of urine. – Brown.

PLA-CA-BIL'I-TY, or PLA'CA-BLE-NESS, n. [from placable.]

The quality of being appeasable; susceptibility of being pacified.

PLA'CA-BLE, a. [It. placabile; Sp. placable; L. placabilis, from placo, to pacify; probably formed on the root of lay. See Please.]

That may be appeased or pacified; appeasable; admitting its passions or irritations to be allayed; willing to forgive. Methought I saw him, placable and mild. – Milton.

PLA-CARD', n. [Fr. placard; Sp. placarte; D. plakaat; plakken, to paste or stick; G. and Dan. placat; Fr. plaquer, to clap on, Arm. placqa. According to the French orthography, this word is composed of plaquer, to lay or clap on, and carte, card.]

Properly, a written or printed paper posted in a public place. It seems to have been formerly the name of an edict, proclamation or manifesto issued by authority, but this sense is, I believe, seldom or never annexed to the word. A placard now is an advertisement, or a libel, or a paper intended to censure public or private characters or public measures, posted in a public place. In the case of libels or papers intended to censure public or private characters, or the measures of government, these papers are usually pasted up at night for secrecy. It is used also for any paper posted to give public notice, as an advertisement.

PLA-CARD', v.t.

1. To post, as a writing or libel in a public place. It is sometimes used in a good sense.
2. To notify publicly.

PLA-CARD'ED, pp.

Posted in a public place; notifying publicly.

PLA-CARD'ING, ppr.

Posting in a public place.

PLA'CATE, v.t. [L. placo, to appease.]

To appease or pacify; to conciliate. – Forbes.