Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad;
wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate.
-- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n.
Pit"fall` (?), n. A pit deceitfully covered to entrap wild beasts or
men; a trap of any kind. Sir T. North.
Pit"fall`ing, a. Entrapping; insnaring. [R.] "Full of . . .
contradiction and pitfalling dispenses." Milton.
Pith (?), n. [AS. pi&?;a; akin to D. pit pith, kernel, LG. peddik. Cf.
Pit a kernel.] 1. (Bot.) The soft spongy substance in the center of the
stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous
or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue.
2. (a) (Zoˆl.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.)
The spinal cord; the marrow.
3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or
essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as,
the speech lacked pith.
Enterprises of great pith and moment.
Shak.
Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice.
Pith, v. t. (Physiol.) To destroy the central nervous system of (an
animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down
the vertebral canal.
||Pi*the"ci (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; an ape.] (Zoˆl.) A division
||of mammals including the apes and monkeys. Sometimes used in the
||sense of Primates.
Pith"e*coid (?), a. [Gr. &?; an ape + -oid.] (Zoˆl.) 1. Of or
pertaining to the genus Pithecia, or subfamily PithecinÊ, which
includes the saki, ouakari, and other allied South American monkeys.
2. Of or pertaining to the anthropoid apes in particular, or to the
higher apes of the Old World, collectively.
Pith"ful (?), a. Full of pith. [R.] W. Browne.
Pith"i*ly (?), adv. In a pithy manner.
Pith"i*ness, n. The quality or state of being pithy.
Pith"less, a. Destitute of pith, or of strength; feeble. Dryden.
"Pithless argumentation." Glandstone.
Pit"-hole` (?), n. A pit; a pockmark.
Pith"some (?), a. Pithy; robust. [R.] "Pithsome health and vigor." R.
D. Blackmore.
Pith"y (?), a. [Compar. Pithier (?); superl. Pithiest.] 1. Consisting
wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a
pithy fruit.