Ple*be"ian*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plebeianized (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Plebeianizing.] To render plebeian, common, or vulgar.
Ple*bic"o*list (?), n. [L. plebs the common people + colere to
cultivate.] One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common
people; a demagogue. [R.]
Pleb`i*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [L. plebs the common people + -ficare (in
comp.) to make. See -fy.] A rendering plebeian; the act of vulgarizing.
[R.]
You begin with the attempt to popularize learning . . . but you
will end in the plebification of knowledge.
Coleridge.
Ple*bis"ci*ta*ry (?), a. Of or pertaining to plebiscite. The Century.
Pleb"i*scite (?), n. [F. plÈbiscite, fr. L. plebiscitum.] A vote by
universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as
first sanctioned by the National Constitution of 1791. [Written also
plebiscit.]
Plebiscite we have lately taken, in popular use, from the French.
Fitzed. Hall.
||Ple`bis*ci"tum (?), n. [L., fr. plebs, plebis, common people + scitum
||decree.] (Rom. Antiq.) A law enacted by the common people, under the
||superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate,
||without the intervention of the senate.
Plec"tile (?), a. [L. plectilis.] Woven; plaited. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
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Plec"tog*nath (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the Plectognathi. - -
n. One of the Plectognathi.
||Plec*to"gna*thi (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. &?; twisted (fr. &?; to
||plait, twist) + &?; jaw.] (Zoˆl.) An order of fishes generally having
||the maxillary bone united with the premaxillary, and the articular
||united with the dentary.
The upper jaw is immovably joined to the skull; the ventral fins are
rudimentary or wanting; and the body is covered with bony plates,
spines, or small rough ossicles, like shagreen. The order includes the
diodons, filefishes, globefishes, and trunkfishes.
{ Plec`tog*nath"ic (?), Plec-tog"na*thous (?), } a. (Zoˆl.) Of or
pertaining to the Plectognathi.
||Plec`to*spon"dy*li (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; plaited + &?;, &?;,
||a vertebra.] (Zoˆl.) An extensive suborder of fresh-water
||physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebrÊ united and much
||modified; the Eventognathi.
Plec`to*spon"dy*lous (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the
Plectospondyli.
||Plec"trum (?), n.; pl. L. Plectra (#), E. Plectrums (#). [L., fr. Gr.
||&?; anything to strike with, fr.&?; to strike.] A small instrument of
||ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other
||stringed instruments.
Pled (?), imp. & p. p. of Plead [Colloq.] Spenser.
Pledge (?), n. [OF. plege, pleige, pledge, guaranty, LL. plegium,
plivium; akin to OF. plevir to bail, guaranty, perhaps fr. L. praebere
to proffer, offer (sc. fidem a trust, a promise of security), but cf.
also E. play. √28. Cf. Prebend, Replevin.] 1. (Law) The transfer
of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as
security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between
the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited,
forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or
deposited; something put in pawn.
Pledge is ordinarily confined to personal property; the title or
ownership does not pass by it; possession is essential to it. In all
these points it differs from a mortgage [see Mortgage]; and in the
last, from the hypotheca of the Roman law. See Hypotheca. Story. Kent.
2. (Old Eng. Law) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for
another; a bail; a surety; a hostage. "I am Grumio's pledge." Shak.