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The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous." Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

this is now commonly used as in animal physiology. The details of the process are not yet clearly known. Baeyer's theory is that the carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide, which, uniting with the hydrogen of the water in the cell, produces formaldehyde, the latter forming various sugars through polymerization. V…

pertaining to pictures; illustrated by pictures; forming pictures; representing with the clearness of a picture; as, a pictorial dictionary; a pictorial imagination. "Pictorial rhetoric." Ruskin. -- Pic*to"ri*al*ly, adv.

Forming, or fitted to form, a good or pleasing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language. What is picturesque…

. -- Pilot engine, a locomotive going in advance of a train to make sure that the way is clear. -- Pilot fish. (Zoöl) (a) A pelagic carangoid fish (Naucrates ductor); -- so named because it is often seen in company with a shark, swimming near a ship, on account of which sailors imagine that it acts as a pilot to the…

To clear off; as, to pipeclay accounts. [Slang, Eng.]

Open; clear; unencumbered; equal; fair. Our troops beat an army in plain fight. Felton.

In a plain manner; clearly.

smooth, glossy surface, usually produced by friction; a gloss or luster. Another prism of clearer glass and better polish. Sir I. Newton.

Definitely laid down; explicitly stated; clearly expressed; -- opposed to implied; as, a positive declaration or promise. Positive words, that he would not bear arms against King Edward's son. Bacon.

Grass-green; clear, lively green, without any mixture. Lindley.

Cleared and ready for engagement, as a ship. Smart.

Unresistingly; openly; hence, clearly; evidently. [Obs.] Shak.

of different from what is natural, or according to the regular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal; as, a preternatural appearance; a preternatural stillness; a preternatural presentation (in childbirth) or labor. This vile a…

elous; wonderful; portentous. [Obs. or R.] Spenser. It is prodigious to have thunder in a clear sky. Sir T. Browne.

moon at the time of a solar eclipse. They may be discovered with the spectroscope on any clear day. Called also solar prominences. See Illust. in Append.

To lop or cut off the superfluous parts, branches, or shoots of; to clear of useless material; to shape or smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune an essay. Thackeray. Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed. Bacon. Our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and…

llute with dirt; to mix dirt with (water). Some unhatched practice . . . Hath puddled his clear spirit. Shak.

To drive with a puff, or with puffs. The clearing north will puff the clouds away. Dryden.