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hout action, scenery, or costume, although the oratorio grew out of the Mysteries and the Miracle and Passion plays, which were acted.

the horizon. The photographic plate is placed horizontally with a vertical lens above. A mirror of peculiar shape reflects light from the entire horizon to the lens, by means of which it is focused upon the plate.

To excel in speed. Outspeed the realized miracles of steam. Talfourd.

An instrument for measuring thickness, as of the glass of a mirror, or of paper; a pachymeter.

id, a paraboloid; a conoid whose directing curve is a parabola. See Conoid. -- Parabolic mirror (Opt.), a mirror having a paraboloidal surface which gives for parallel rays (as those from very distant objects) images free from aberration. It is used in reflecting telescopes. -- Parabolic spindle, the solid generated…

some agent; as, in Latin, doceor, I am taught; in English, she is loved; the picture is admired by all; he is assailed by slander.

A glass through which objects are viewed. [Obs.] "Not a perspective, but a mirror." Sir T. Browne.

Petted; indulged; admired; cherished; as, a pet child; a pet lamb; a pet theory. Some young lady's pet curate. F. Harrison. Pet cock. Etym: [Perh. for petty cock.] (Mach.) A little faucet in a water pipe or pump, to let air out, or at the end of a steam cylinder, to drain it.

Petitioning; soliciting; supplicating. Sir W. Hamilton. Petitory suit or action (Admiralty Law), a suit in which the mere title to property is litigated and sought to be enforced, as distinguished from a possessory suit; also (Scots Law), a suit wherein the plaintiff claims something as due him by the defendant. Burril…

ubordinate; as, a petty fault; a petty prince. Denham. Like a petty god I walked about, admired of all. Milton. Petty averages. See under Average. -- Petty cash, money expended or received in small items or amounts. -- Petty officer, a subofficer in the navy, as a gunner, etc., corresponding to a noncommissionned off…

pier which by its strength and stability resists the thrust of an arch. -- Pier glass, a mirror, of high and narrow shape, to be put up between windows. -- Pier table, a table made to stand between windows.

ence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth. Play actor, an actor of dramas. Prynne. -- Play debt, a gambling debt. Arbuthnot. -- Play pleasure, idle amusement. [Obs.] Bacon. -- A play upon words, the use of a word in such a way as to be capable of double meaning;…

with up.plump up the pillows To plump up the hollowness of their history with improbable miracles. Fuller.

An opera glass or field glass with an oblique mirror arranged for seeing objects do not lie directly before the eye; -- called also diagonal, or side, opera glass.

ses ownership, origin, or some possessive relation of one thing to another; as, Homer's admirers; the pear's flavor; the dog's faithfulness. -- Possessive pronoun, a pronoun denoting ownership; as, his name; her home; my book.

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.

favor, as with a donation; also, to court by gifts. Octavia presented the poet for him admirable elegy on her son Marcellus. Dryden.

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 and preternatural temper…

(Rev. i. 5). Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince. Milton. Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex. Camden.

The share of merchandise taken as lawful prize at sea which belongs to the king or admiral.