As swift as a pellet out of a gun.
Chaucer.
Pellet molding (Arch.), a narrow band ornamented with smalt, flat
disks.
Pel"let, v.&?;. To form into small balls. [Obs.] Shak.
Pel"let*ed, a. Made of, or like, pellets; furnished with pellets. [R.]
"This pelleted storm." Shak.
||Pel`li*bran`chi*a"ta (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. pellis garment + branchia
||a gill.] (Zoˆl.) A division of Nudibranchiata, in which the mantle
||itself serves as a gill.
Pel"li*cle (?), n. [L. pellicu&?;a, dim. of pellis skin: cf. F.
pellicule.] 1. A thin skin or film.
2. (Chem.) A thin film formed on the surface of an evaporating
solution.
Pel*lic"u*lar (?), a. Of or pertaining to a pellicle. Henslow.
Pel*li"le (?), n. (Zoˆl.) The redshank; -- so called from its note.
[Prov. Eng.]
Pel"li*to*ry (?), n. [OE. paritorie, OF. paritoire, F. pariÈtaire; (cf.
It. & Sp. parietaria), L. parietaria the parietary, or pellitory, the
wall plant, fr. parietarus belonging to the walls, fr. paries, parietis
a wall. Cf. Parietary.] (Bot.) The common name of the several species
of the genus Parietaria, low, harmless weeds of the Nettle family; --
also called wall pellitory, and lichwort.
Parietaria officinalis is common on old walls in Europe; P.
pennsylvanica is found in the United States; and six or seven more
species are found near the Mediterranean, or in the Orient.
Pel"li*to*ry, n. [Sp. pelitre, fr. L. pyrethrum. See Bertram.] (Bot.)
(a) A composite plant (Anacyclus Pyrethrum) of the Mediterranean
region, having finely divided leaves and whitish flowers. The root is
the officinal pellitory, and is used as an irritant and sialogogue.
Called also bertram, and pellitory of Spain. (b) The feverfew
(Chrysanthemum Parthenium); -- so called because it resembles the
above.
Pell`-mell" (&?;), n. See Pall- mall.
Pell`mell", adv. [F. pÍle- mÍle, prob. fr. pelle a shovel + mÍler to
mix, as when different kinds of grain are heaped up and mixed with a
shovel. See Pell shovel, Medley.] In utter confusion; with confused
violence. "Men, horses, chariots, crowded pellmell." Milton.
Pel*lu"cid (?), a. [L. pellucidus; per (see Per-) + lucidus clear,
bright: cf. F. pellucide.] Transparent; clear; limpid; translucent; not
opaque. "Pellucid crystal." Dr. H. More. "Pellucid streams."
Wordsworth.
{ Pel`lu*cid"i*ty (?), Pel*lu"cid*ness (?), } n. [L. pelluciditas.] The
quality or state of being pellucid; transparency; translucency;
clearness; as, the pellucidity of the air. Locke.
Pel*lu"cid*ly, adv. In a pellucid manner.
||Pel"ma (?), n.; pl. Pelmata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?;.] (Zoˆl.) The
||under surface of the foot.
Pe*lo"pi*um (?), n. [NL., fr. L. Pelops, brother of Niobe, Gr. &?;.]
(Chem.) A supposed new metal found in columbite, afterwards shown to be
identical with columbium, or niobium.
Pel`o*pon*ne"sian (?), a. [L. Peloponnesius, fr. Peloponnesus, Gr. &?;,
lit., the Island of Pelops; &?;, &?;, Pelops + &?; an island.] Of or
pertaining to the Peloponnesus, or southern peninsula of Greece. -- n.
A native or an inhabitant of the Peloponnesus.
||Pe*lo"ri*a (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; monstrous.] (Bot.) Abnormal
||regularity; the state of certain flowers, which, being naturally
||irregular, have become regular through a symmetrical repetition of
||the special irregularity.
Pe*lo"ric (?), a. (Bot.) Abnormally regular or symmetrical. Darwin.
Pel"o*tage (?), n. [F.] Packs or bales of Spanish wool.
Pelt (?), n. [Cf. G. pelz a pelt, fur, fr. OF. pelice, F. pelisse (see
Pelisse); or perh. shortened fr. peltry.] 1. The skin of a beast with
the hair on; a raw or undressed hide; a skin preserved with the hairy
or woolly covering on it. See 4th Fell. Sir T. Browne.
Raw pelts clapped about them for their clothes.
Fuller.