"The word perception is, in the language of philosophers previous to
Reid, used in a very extensive signification. By Descartes,
Malebranche, Locke, Leibnitz, and others, it is employed in a sense
almost as unexclusive as consciousness, in its widest signification. By
Reid this word was limited to our faculty acquisitive of knowledge, and
to that branch of this faculty whereby, through the senses, we obtain a
knowledge of the external world. But his limitation did not stop here.
In the act of external perception he distinguished two elements, to
which he gave the names of perception and sensation. He ought perhaps
to have called these perception proper and sensation proper, when
employed in his special meaning." Sir W. Hamilton.
Per*cep"tive (?), a. [Cf. F. perceptif.] Of or pertaining to the act or
power of perceiving; having the faculty or power of perceiving; used in
perception. "His perceptive and reflective faculties." Motley.
Per`cep*tiv"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being perceptive;
power of perception. Locke.
||Per*ces"o*ces (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. perca a perch + esox, -ocis, a
||pike.] (Zoˆl.) An order of fishes including the gray mullets (Mugil),
||the barracudas, the silversides, and other related fishes. So called
||from their relation both to perches and to pikes.
Perch (prch), n. [Written also pearch.] [OE. perche, F. perche, L.
perca, fr. Gr. pe`rkh; cf. perkno`s dark-colored, Skr. pÁni spotted,
speckled, and E. freckle.] (Zoˆl.) 1. Any fresh-water fish of the genus
Perca and of several other allied genera of the family PercidÊ, as the
common American or yellow perch (Perca flavescens, or Americana), and
the European perch (P. fluviatilis).
2. Any one of numerous species of spiny-finned fishes belonging to the
PercidÊ, SerranidÊ, and related families, and resembling, more or less,
the true perches.
Black perch. (a) The black bass. (b) The flasher. (c) The sea bass. --
Blue perch, the cunner. -- Gray perch, the fresh-water drum. -- Red
perch, the rosefish. -- Red-bellied perch, the long- eared pondfish. --
Perch pest, a small crustacean, parasitic in the mouth of the perch. --
Silver perch, the yellowtail. -- Stone, or Striped, perch, the pope. --
White perch, the Roccus, or Morone, Americanus, a small silvery
serranoid market fish of the Atlantic coast.
Perch (?), n. [F. perche, L. pertica.] 1. A pole; a long staff; a rod;
esp., a pole or other support for fowls to roost on or to rest on; a
roost; figuratively, any elevated resting place or seat.
As chauntecleer among his wives all Sat on his perche, that was in
his hall.
Chaucer.
Not making his high place the lawless perch Of winged ambitions.
Tennyson.
2. (a) A measure of length containing five and a half yards; a rod, or
pole. (b) In land or square measure: A square rod; the 160th part of an
acre. (c) In solid measure: A mass 16Ω feet long, 1 foot in height, and
1Ω feet in breadth, or 24æ cubic feet (in local use, from 22 to 25
cubic feet); -- used in measuring stonework.
3. A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage;
a reach.
Perch, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Perched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Perching.] [F.
percher. See Perch a pole.] To alight or settle, as a bird; to sit or
roost.
Wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.
Shak.
Perch, v. t. 1. To place or to set on, or as on, a perch.