Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PEAR-LY, a. [perl'y.]

1. Containing pearls; abounding with pearls; as, pearly shells; a pearly shore.
2. Resembling pearls; clear; pure; transparent; as, the pearly flood; pearly dew. – Drayton. Dryden.

PEAR-MAIN, n.

A variety of the apple.

PEAR-TREE, n.

The tree that produces pears.

PEAS'ANT, a. [pez'ant.]

Rustic; rural. – Spenser.

PEAS-ANT, n. [pez'ant; Fr. paysan; Sp. and Port. paisano; from the name of country; Fr. pais or pays, Sp. and Port. pais, It. paese; W. peues, a place of rest, a country, from pau, coinciding with Gr. παυω, to rest.]

A countryman; one whose business is rural labor.

PEAS'ANT-LIKE, or PEAS'ANT-LY, a.

Rude; clownish; illiterate; resembling peasants.

PEAS'ANT-RY, n. [pez'antry.]

1. Peasants; rustics; the body of country people. – Locke.
2. Rusticity. [Not used.] – Butler.

PEAS-COD, or PEA-SHELL, n.

The legume or pericarp of the pea. – Walton. Gay.

PEASE, n.

Peas collectively, or used as food. [See Pea.] – Arbuthnot.

PEA-STONE, n.

A subspecies of limestone.

PEAT, n. [Fr. petit. See PET.]

PEAT, n. [G. pfütze, a bog.]

A substance resembling turf, used as fuel. It is found in low grounds or moorish lands, and is of several species; one is of a brown or yellowish brown color, and when first cut has a viscid consistence, but hardens when exposed to the air; another consists chiefly of vegetable substance; as branches of trees, roots, grass, &c. – Bacon. Nicholson. Encyc.

PEAT-MOSS, n. [peat and moss.]

1. An earthy material used as fuel.
2. A fen producing peat.

PEB'BLE, or PEB'BLE-STONE, n. [Sax. pabob, papolstana.]

In popular usage, a roundish stone of any kind from the size of a nut to that of a man's head. In a philosophical sense, minerals distinguished from flints by their variety of colors, consisting of crystaline matter debased by earths of various kinds, with veins, clouds and other variations, formed by incrustation round a central nucleus, but sometimes the effect of a simple concretion. Pebbles are much used in the pavement of streets. – Encyc. A general term for water-worn minerals. – D. Olmsted.

PEB'BLE-CRYS-TAL, n.

A crystal in form of nodules, found in earthy stratums and irregular in shape. – Woodward.

PEB'BLED, a.

Abounding with pebbles. – Thomson.

PEB'BLY, a.

Full of pebbles; abounding with small roundish stones.

PE'CAN, n.

A tree, Carya oliviformis, and its fruit, growing in North America.

PEC'A-RY, or PEC'CA-RY, n.

The popular name of a pachydermatous mammal belonging to the genus Dicotyles. It is nearly related to the hog. There are two species, the one inhabiting the eastern side of South America, and the other Paraguay. There is an opening on the back, from which is extracted a fetid humor secreted within.

PEC-CA-BIL'I-TY, n. [from peccable.]

State of being subject to sin; capacity of sinning. – Decay of Piety.

PEC'CA-BLE, a. [from L. pecco, Ir. peachadh; W. pec, pecawd, sin; pecu, to sin; Fr. pecher; It. peccare; Sp. pecar.]

Liable to sin; subject to transgress the divine law. – Priestley.

PEC-CA-DIL'LO, n. [Sp. dim. from pecado, L. peccatum; Fr. peccadille. See Peccable.]

1. A slight trespass or offense; a petty crime or fault. – Dryden.
2. A sort of stiff ruff. – B. Taylor

PEC'CAN-CY, n. [from peccant.]

1. Bad quality; as, the peccancy of the humors. – Wiseman.
2. Offense. – Mountague.

PEC'CANT, a. [L. peccans; Fr. peccant. See Peccable.]

1. Sinning; guilty of sin or transgression; criminal; as, peccant angels. – Milton.
2. Morbid; bad; corrupt; not healthy; as, peccant humors. – Arbuthnot.
3. Wrong; bad; defective; informal; as, a peccant citation. [Not used.] – Ayliffe.

PEC'CANT, n.

An offender. [Not used.] Whitlock.