Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter P - Page 104
Powdike (n.) A dike a marsh or fen. [Prov. Eng.] -- Halliwell.
Powdry (a.) See Powdery.
Power (n.) (Zool.) Same as Poor, the fish.
Power (n.) Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power. "One next himself in power, and next in crime." -- Milton.
Power (n.) Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm. "The power of fancy." -- Shak.
Power (n.) Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance.
Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power. -- Sir W. Hamilton.
Power (n.) The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent. -- Swift.
Power (n.) The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity. "The powers of darkness." -- Milton.
And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. -- Matt. xxiv. 29.
Power (n.) A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host. -- Spenser.
Never such a power . . . Was levied in the body of a land. -- Shak.
Power (n.) A large quantity; a great number; as, a power of good things. [Colloq.] -- Richardson.
Power (n.) The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power.
Power (n.) A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc.
Power (n.) Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end.
Power (n.) A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
Power (n.) The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number.
Power (n.) Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc.
Power (n.) The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface.
Power (n.) An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.
Power (n.) Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
Powerable (a.) Capable of being effected or accomplished by the application of power; possible.
Powerable (a.) Capable of exerting power; powerful.
Powerful (a.) Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any kind; potent; mighty; efficacious; intense; as, a powerful man or beast; a powerful engine; a powerful argument; a powerful light; a powerful vessel.
Powerful (a.) Large; capacious; -- said of veins of ore.
Powerful (a.) (Control) (B1) Having a lot of power to control people and events.
// The president is more powerful than the prime minister.
// She's the most powerful person in the organization.
Powerful (a.) (Strength) (B1) Having a lot of strength or force.
// She's an extremely powerful runner.
// The picture quality is bad because the TV signal isn't powerful enough.
Powerful (a.) (Strength) (B2) Having a very great effect.
// A powerful drug.
// Her speech about cruelty to children was very powerful.
Powerful (a.) (Image size) Having the power to increase the size of an image of something that is very small or far away many times.
// You'd need an extremely powerful microscope to see something so small.
Powerless (a.) Destitute of power, force, or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect.
Powldron (n.) Same as Pauldron.
Powp (v. i.) See Poop, v. i.
Powter (n.) See Pouter.
Powpow (n.) A priest, or conjurer, among the North American Indians.
Powpow (n.) Conjuration attended with great noise and confusion, and often with feasting, dancing, etc., performed by Indians for the cure of diseases, to procure success in hunting or in war, and for other purposes.
Powpow (n.) Hence: Any assembly characterized by noise and confusion; a noisy frolic or gathering.
Powwow (v. i.) To use conjuration, with noise and confusion, for the cure of disease, etc., as among the North American Indians.
Powwow (v. i.) Hence: To hold a noisy, disorderly meeting.
Pox (n.) Strictly, a disease by pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases, -- the smallpox, the chicken pox, and the vaccine and the venereal diseases.
Poxed (imp. & p. p.) of Pox.
Poxing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pox.
Pox (v. t.) To infect with the pox, or syphilis.
Poxviridae (n.) 痘病毒科 Class I viruses with a double-stranded DNA genome that encodes more than 30 polypeptides. They are the largest viruses and have a complex multilayered coat composed of lipid and enzymes, including a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase. They multiply in the cytoplasm of the cell. Four genera cause human infections: orthopox, parapox, yatapox, and molluscipox. Important examples are vaccinia, variola (smallpox), and myxoma.
Poy (n.) A support; -- used in composition; as, teapoy.
Poy (n.) A ropedancer's balancing pole. -- Johnson.
Poy (n.) A long boat hook by which barges are propelled against the stream. [Prov. Eng.] -- Halliwell.
Poynado (n.) A poniard. [Obs.] -- Lyly. Poynd
Poynd (n.) Alt. of Poynder.
Poynder (n.) See Poind, Poinder.
Poy nette (n.) A bodkin. [Obs.]
Poyntel (n.) (Arch.) Paving or flooring made of small squares or lozenges set diagonally. [Formerly written pointal.]
Poyou (n.) (Zool.) A South American armadillo ({Dasypus sexcinctus). Called also sixbanded armadillo.
Poyou (n.) Argentine armadillo with six movable bands and hairy underparts [syn: peludo, poyou, Euphractus sexcinctus].
Poze (v. t.) See 5th Pose. Pozzuolana
Pozzuolana (n.) Alt. of Pozzolana.
Pozzolana (n.) [It.] Volcanic ashes from Pozzuoli, in Italy, used in the manufacture of a kind of mortar which hardens under water.
Praam (n.) (Naut.) A flat-bottomed boat or lighter, -- used in Holland and the Baltic, and sometimes armed in case of war. [Written also pram, and prame.]
Practic (a.) Practical.
Practic (a.) Artful; deceitful; skillful. [Obs.] "Cunning sleights and practick knavery." -- Spenser.
Practicability (n.) The quality or state of being practicable; practicableness; feasibility. "The practicability of such a project." -- Stewart.
Practicability (n.) The quality of being usable [syn: practicability, practicableness] [ant: impracticability, impracticableness].
Practicable (a.) That may be practiced or performed; capable of being done or accomplished with available means or resources; feasible; as, a practicable method; a practicable aim; a practicable good.
Practicable (a.) Capable of being used; passable; as, a practicable weapon; a practicable road.
Practicable breach (Mil.), A breach which admits of approach and entrance by an assailing party.
Syn: Possible; feasible. -- Practicable, Possible. A thing may be possible, i. e., not forbidden by any law of nature, and yet may not now be practicable for want of the means requisite to its performance. -- Prac"ti*ca*ble*ness, n. -- Prac"ti*ca*bly, adv.
Practicable (a.) Usable for a specific purpose; "an operable plan"; "a practicable solution" [syn: operable, practicable].
Practicable (a.) Capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are [syn: feasible, executable, practicable, viable, workable].
Practical (a.) Of or pertaining to practice or action.
Practical (a.) Capable of being turned to use or account; useful, in distinction from ideal or theoretical; as, practical chemistry. "Man's practical understanding." -- South. "For all practical purposes." -- Macaulay.
Practical (a.) Evincing practice or skill; capable of applying knowledge to some useful end; as, a practical man; a practical mind.
Practical (a.) Derived from practice; as, practical skill.
Practical joke, A joke put in practice; a joke the fun of which consists in something done, in distinction from something said; esp., a trick played upon a person.
Practical (a.) Concerned with actual use or practice; "he is a very practical person"; "the idea had no practical application"; "a practical knowledge of Japanese"; "woodworking is a practical art" [ant: impractical].
Practical (a.) Guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory; "a hardheaded appraisal of our position"; "a hard-nosed labor leader"; "completely practical in his approach to business"; "not ideology but pragmatic politics" [syn: hardheaded, hard-nosed, practical, pragmatic].
Practical (a.) Being actually such in almost every respect; "a practical failure"; "the once elegant temple lay in virtual ruin" [syn: virtual(a), practical(a)].
Practical (a.) Having or put to a practical purpose or use; "practical mathematics"; "practical applications of calculus."
Practicality (n.) The quality or state of being practical; practicalness.
Practicality (n.) Concerned with actual use rather than theoretical possibilities [ant: impracticality].
Practically (adv.) In a practical way; not theoretically; really; as, to look at things practically; practically worthless.
Practically (adv.) By means of practice or use; by experience or experiment; as, practically wise or skillful; practically acquainted with a subject.
Practically (adv.) In practice or use; as, a medicine practically safe; theoretically wrong, but practically right.
Practically (adv.) Almost.
Practically (adv.) Almost; nearly; "practically the first thing I saw when I got off the train"; "he was practically the only guest at the party"; "there was practically no garden at all."
Practically (adv.) In a practical manner; "practically orientated institutions such as business schools"; "a brilliant man but so practically inept that he needed help to cross the road safely."
Practically (adv.) (Degree adverb used before a noun phrase) For all practical purposes but not completely; "much the same thing happened every time"; "practically everything in Hinduism is the manifestation of a god" [syn: much, practically].
Practicalness (n.) Same as Practicality.
Practicalize (v. t.) To render practical. [R.] "Practicalizing influences." -- J. S. Mill.
Practiced (imp. & p. p.) of Practice.
Practicing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Practice.
Practice (v. t.) To do or perform frequently, customarily, or habitually; to make a practice of; as, to practice gaming.
Practice (v. t.) To exercise, or follow, as a profession, trade, art, etc., as, to practice law or medicine.
Practice (v. t.) To exercise one's self in, for instruction or improvement, or to acquire discipline or dexterity; as, to practice gunnery; to practice music.
Practice (v. t.) To put into practice; to carry out; to act upon; to commit; to execute; to do. "Aught but Talbot's shadow whereon to practice your severity." -- Shak.
As this advice ye practice or neglect. -- Pope.
Practice (v. t.) To make use of; to employ. [Obs.]
In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her. -- Massinger.
Practice (v. t.) To teach or accustom by practice; to train.
In church they are taught to love God; after church they are practiced to love their neighbor. -- Landor.
Practice (n.) Frequently repeated or customary action; habitual performance; a succession of acts of a similar kind; usage; habit; custom; as, the practice of rising early; the practice of making regular entries of accounts; the practice of daily exercise.
A heart . . . exercised with covetous practices. -- 2 Pet. ii. 14.
Practice (n.) Customary or constant use; state of being used.
Obsolete words may be revived when they are more sounding or more significant than those in practice. -- Dryden.
Practice (n.) Skill or dexterity acquired by use; expertness. [R.] "His nice fence and his active practice." -- Shak.
Practice (n.) Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory.
There are two functions of the soul, -- contemplation and practice. -- South.
There is a distinction, but no opposition, between theory and practice; each, to a certain extent, supposes the other; theory is dependent on practice; practice must have preceded theory. -- Sir W. Hamilton.
Practice (n.) Systematic exercise for instruction or discipline; as, the troops are called out for practice; she neglected practice in music.
Practice (n.) Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business; as, the practice of medicine or law; a large or lucrative practice.
Practice is exercise of an art, or the application of a science in life, which application is itself an art. -- Sir W. Hamilton.
Practice (n.) Skillful or artful management; dexterity in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense. [Obs.] -- Bacon.
He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer. -- Sir P. Sidney.
Practice (n.) (Math.) A easy and concise method of applying the rules of arithmetic to questions which occur in trade and business.
Practice (n.) (Law) The form, manner, and order of conducting and carrying on suits and prosecutions through their various stages, according to the principles of law and the rules laid down by the courts. -- Bouvier.
Syn: Custom; usage; habit; manner.
Practice (v. i.) To perform certain acts frequently or customarily, either for instruction, profit, or amusement; as, to practice with the broadsword or with the rifle; to practice on the piano.
Practice (v. i.) To learn by practice; to form a habit.
They shall practice how to live secure. -- Milton.
Practice first over yourself to reign. -- Waller.
Practice (v. i.) To try artifices or stratagems.
He will practice against thee by poison. -- Shak.
Practice (v. i.) To apply theoretical science or knowledge, esp. by way of experiment; to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, esp. that of medicine or of law.
[I am] little inclined to practice on others, and as little that others should practice on me. -- Sir W. Temple.
Practice (n.) A customary way of operation or behavior; "it is their practice to give annual raises"; "they changed their dietary pattern" [syn: practice, pattern].
Practice (n.) Systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes perfect" [syn: exercise, practice, drill, practice session, recitation].
Practice (n.) Translating an idea into action; "a hard theory to put into practice"; "differences between theory and praxis of communism" [syn: practice, praxis].
Practice (n.) The exercise of a profession; "the practice of the law"; "I took over his practice when he retired."
Practice (n.) Knowledge of how something is usually done; "it is not the local practice to wear shorts to dinner."
Practice (v.) Carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions; "practice law" [syn: practice, practise, exercise, do].
Practice (v.) Learn by repetition; "We drilled French verbs every day"; "Pianists practice scales" [syn: drill, exercise, practice, practise].
Practice (v.) Engage in a rehearsal (of) [syn: rehearse, practise, practice].
Practice (v.) Avail oneself to; "apply a principle"; "practice a religion"; "use care when going down the stairs"; "use your common sense"; "practice non-violent resistance" [syn: practice, apply, use].
Practice (v.) Engage in or perform; "practice safe sex"; "commit a random act of kindness" [syn: commit, practice].
Practice. () The form, manner and order of conducting and carrying on suits or prosecutions in the courts through their various stages, according, to the principles of law, and the rules laid down by the respective courts.
Practice. () By practice is also meant the business which an attorney or counsellor does; as, A B has a good practice.
Practice. () The books on practice are very numerous; among the most popular are those Of Tidd, Chitty, Archbold, Sellon, Graham, Dunlap, Caines, Troubat and Haly, Blake, Impey.
Practice. () A settled, uniform, and loll, continued practice, without objection is evidence of what the law is, and such practice is based on principles which are founded in justice and convenience. Buck, 279; 2 Russ. R. 19, 570; 2 Jac. It. 232; 5 T. R. 380; 1 Y. & J. 167, 168; 2 Crompt. & M. 55; Ram on Judgm. ch. 7.
Practiced (a.) Experienced; expert; skilled; as, a practiced marksman. "A practiced picklock." -- Ld. Lytton.
Practiced (a.) Used habitually; learned by practice.
Practiced (a.) Having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude; "adept in handicrafts"; "an adept juggler"; "an expert job"; "a good mechanic"; "a practiced marksman"; "a proficient engineer"; "a lesser-known but no less skillful composer"; "the effect was achieved by skillful retouching" [syn: adept, expert, good, practiced, proficient, skillful, skilful].
Practiced (a.) Skillful after much practice [syn: practiced, practised].
Practicer (n.) One who practices, or puts in practice; one who customarily performs certain acts. -- South.
Practicer (n.) One who exercises a profession; a practitioner.
Practicer (n.) One who uses art or stratagem. [Obs.] -- B. Jonson.
Practician (n.) One who is acquainted with, or skilled in, anything by practice; a practitioner.
Practician (n.) Someone who practices a learned profession [syn: practitioner, practician].
Practick (n.) Practice. [Obs.] -- Chaucer.
Practisant (n.) An agent or confederate in treachery. [Obs.] -- Shak.
Practise (v. t. & i.) See Practice.
Note: The analogy of the English language requires that the noun and verb which are pronounced alike should agree in spelling. Thus we have notice (n. & v.), noticed, noticing, noticer; poultice (n. & v.); apprentice (n. & v.); office (n. & v.), officer (n.); lattice (n.), latticed (a.); benefice (n.), beneficed (a.), etc. Cf. sacrifice (?; n. & v.), surmise (?; n. & v.), promise (?; n. & v.); compromise (?; n. & v.), etc. Contrast advice (?; n.), and advise (?); device (?), and devise (?), etc.
Practise (v.) Engage in a rehearsal (of) [syn: rehearse, practise, practice].
Practise (v.) Carry out or practice; as of jobs and professions; "practice law" [syn: practice, practise, exercise, do].
Practise (v.) Learn by repetition; "We drilled French verbs every day"; "Pianists practice scales" [syn: drill, exercise, practice, practise].
Practisour (n.) A practitioner. [Obs.]
Practitioner (n.) One who is engaged in the actual use or exercise of any art or profession, particularly that of law or medicine. -- Crabbe.
Practitioner (n.) One who does anything customarily or habitually.
Practitioner (n.) A sly or artful person. -- Whitgift.
General practitioner. See under General, 2.
Practitioner (n.) Someone who practices a learned profession [syn: practitioner, practician].
Practive (a.) Doing; active. [Obs.] -- Sylvester. -- Prac"tive*ly, adv. [Obs.]
The preacher and the people both, Then practively did thrive. -- Warner.