Pea"stone` (?), n. (Min.) Pisolite.
Peas"weep` (?), n. [So called from its note.] [Prov. Eng.] (Zoˆl.) (a)
The pewit, or lapwing. (b) The greenfinch.
Peat (?), n. [Cf. Pet a fondling.] A small person; a pet; -- sometimes
used contemptuously. [Obs.] Shak.
Peat, n. [Prob. for beat, prop., material used to make the fire burn
better, fr. AS. b&?;tan to better, mend (a fire), b&?;t advantage. See
Better, Boot advantage.] A substance of vegetable origin, consisting of
roots and fibers, moss, etc., in various stages of decomposition, and
found, as a kind of turf or bog, usually in low situations, where it is
always more or less saturated with water. It is often dried and used
for fuel.
Peat bog, a bog containing peat; also, peat as it occurs in such
places; peat moss. -- Peat moss. (a) The plants which, when decomposed,
become peat. (b) A fen producing peat. (c) (Bot.) Moss of the genus
Sphagnum, which often grows abundantly in boggy or peaty places. --
Peat reek, the reek or smoke of peat; hence, also, the peculiar flavor
given to whisky by being distilled with peat as fuel. [Scot.]
Peat"y (?), a. Composed of peat; abounding in peat; resembling peat.
Pe"ba (?), n. [Cf. Pg. peba.] (Zoˆl.) An armadillo (Tatusia
novemcincta) which is found from Texas to Paraguay; -- called also
tatouhou.
Peb"ble (?), n. [AS. papolstn; cf. L. papula pimple, mote. See Stone.]
1. A small roundish stone or bowlder; especially, a stone worn and
rounded by the action of water; a pebblestone. "The pebbles on the
hungry beach." Shak.
As children gathering pebbles on the shore.
Milton.
2. Transparent and colorless rock crystal; as, Brazilian pebble; -- so
called by opticians.
Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. --
Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc.,
obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.
Peb"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pebbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Pebbling.] To
grain (leather) so as to produce a surface covered with small rounded
prominences.
Peb"bled (?), a. Abounding in pebbles. Thomson.
Peb"ble*stone` (?). A pebble; also, pebbles collectively. "Chains of
pebblestone." Marlowe.
Peb"bly (?), a. Full of pebbles; pebbled. "A hard, pebbly bottom."
Johnson.
||Pe`brine" (?), n. [F.] An epidemic disease of the silkworm,
||characterized by the presence of minute vibratory corpuscles in the
||blood.
Pe*can" (?), n. [Cf. F. pacane the nut.] (Bot.) A species of hickory
(Carya olivÊformis), growing in North America, chiefly in the
Mississippi valley and in Texas, where it is one of the largest of
forest trees; also, its fruit, a smooth, oblong nut, an inch or an inch
and a half long, with a thin shell and well-flavored meat. [Written
also pacane.]
Pec"a*ry (?), n. (Zoˆl.) See Peccary.
Pec`ca*bil"i*ty (?), n. The state or quality of being peccable;
lability to sin.
The common peccability of mankind.
Dr. H. More.
Pec"ca*ble (?), a. [Cf. F. peccable. See Peccant.] Liable to sin;
subject to transgress the divine law. "A frail and peccable mortal."
Sir W. Scott.
Pec`ca*dil"lo (?), n.; pl. Peccadillos (#). [Sp. pecadillo, dim. of
pecado a sin, fr. L. peccatum. See Peccant.] A slight trespass or
offense; a petty crime or fault. Sir W. Scott.
Pec"can*cy (?), n. [L. peccantia.] 1. The quality or state of being
peccant.