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whole amount of wages or salary; maximum pay; especially, the highest pay or allowance to civil or military officers of a certain rank, without deductions. -- Half pay. See under Half. -- Pay day, the day of settlement of accounts. -- Pay dirt (Mining), earth which yields a profit to the miner. [Western U.S.] -- Pay…

In Great Britain, an officer of the Treasury who makes all payments and disbursements, civil as well as military. He is a member of the ministry, but not of the cabinet.

Tending to pervade, or having power to spread throughout; of a pervading quality. "Civilization pervasive and general." M. Arnold.

he mind catch hold of and recover a vanishing notion. South. Petit constable, an inferior civil officer, subordinate to the high constable. -- Petit jury, a jury of twelve men, impaneled to try causes at the bar of a court; -- so called in distinction from the grand jury. -- Petit larceny, the stealing of goods of, o…

s before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow; as, pioneers of civilization; pioneers of reform.

The assent of the civil power to the promulgation of an ecclesiastical ordinance. Shipley. The king . . . annulled the royal placet. J. P. Peters.

ender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in nearly all parts of the world. Indian plantain. (Bot.) See under Indian. -- Mud plantain, a homely North American aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves. -- Rattlesnake plantain,…

In Athens, originally, the military commanderin-chief; but, afterward, a civil magistrate who had jurisdiction in respect of strangers and sojourners. In other Grecian cities, a high military and civil officer.

The organized body of civil officers in a city, town, or district, whose particular duties are the preservation of good order, the prevention and detection of crime, and the enforcement of the laws.

Civil polity. [Obs.]

Smooth and refined in behavior or manners; well bred; courteous; complaisant; obliging; civil. He marries, bows at court, and grows polite. Pope.

Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political; as, the body politic. See under Body. He with his people made all but one politic body. Sir P. Sidney.

The form or constitution of the civil government of a nation or state; the framework or organization by which the various departments of government are combined into a systematic whole. Blackstone. Hooker.

h and 15th centuries; also, a name for the doublet of the 16th and 17th centuries worn by civilians.

n authority into England, the penalties for which were originally intended to depress the civil power of the pope in the kingdom.

e of poverty; the pressure of taxes; the pressure of motives on the mind; the pressure of civilization. Where the pressure of danger was not felt. Macaulay.

A civil officer or magistrate among the ancient Romans.

of anticipating another's wishes, desires, etc., in the way of favor or courtesy; hence, civility; obligingness. [Obs.] Sterne.

of privilege (Law), a writ to deliver a privileged person from custody when arrested in a civil suit. Blackstone.

The whole course of proceedings in a cause real or personal, civil or criminal, from the beginning to the end of the suit; strictly, the means used for bringing the defendant into court to answer to the action; -- a generic term for writs of the class called judicial. Deacon's process Etym: [from H. Deacon, who introdu…