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any pestilence; as, the great London plague. "A plague upon the people fell." Tennyson. Cattle plague. See Rinderpest. -- Plague mark, Plague spot, a spot or mark of the plague; hence, a token of something incurable.

Not much varied by modulations; as, a plain tune. Plain battle, open battle; pitched battle. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Plain chant (Mus.) Same as Plain song, below. -- Plain chart (Naut.), a chart laid down on Mercator's projection. -- Plain dealer. (a) One who practices plain dealing. (b) A simpleton. [Obs.] Shak. -- Pla…

rth American aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves. -- Rattlesnake plantain, an orchidaceous plant (Goodyera pubescens), with the leaves blotched and spotted with white. -- Ribwort plantain. See Ribwort. -- Robin's plantain, the Erigeron bellidifolium, a common daisylike plant of Nor…

ombination of pleurisy and pneumonia, esp. a kind of contagions and fatal lung plague of cattle.

Wet and soft; easily penetrated by the feet of cattle; -- said of land

To impound, as cattle. [Obs. or Scot.] Flavel.

The keeper of a cattle pound; a pinder. [Obs. or Scot.] T. Adams.

Hence, to direct the attention or notice of. Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them. Pope.

Anciently, a kind of battle-ax with a long handle; later, an ax or hatchet with a short handle, and a head variously patterned; -- used by soldiers, and also by sailors in boarding a vessel.

eau. & Fl. (c) Having cast the antlers; -- said of a stag. (d) Without horns; as, polled cattle; polled sheep.

Pairing with more than one female. Most deer, cattle, and sheep are polygamous. Darwin.

An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold. Shak.

Confinement of cattle, or other animals, in a public pound.

irie pigeon, plover, or snipe (Zoöl.), the upland plover. See Plover, n., 2. -- Prairie rattlesnake (Zoöl.), the massasauga. -- Prairie snake (Zoöl.), a large harmless American snake (Masticophis flavigularis). It is pale yellow, tinged with brown above. -- Prairie squirrel (Zoöl.), any American ground squirrel of t…

P. pabularia), found in Thibet, Cashmere, Afghanistan, etc., has been used as fodder for cattle. It has decompound leaves with very long narrow divisions, and a highly fragrant smell resembling that of new clover hay.

Ready; prompt; prepared. [Obs.] All prest to such battle he was. R. of Gloucester.

t my pris, or may prey, by deliberation. Chaucer. His own prize, Whom formerly he had in battle won. Spenser.

phere. The woman'sprovince is to be careful in her economy, and chaste in her affection. Tattler.

f the genus Briza, having slender-stalked and pendulous ovate spikelets, which quake and rattle in the wind. Briza maxima is the large quaking grass; B. media and B. minor are the smaller kinds. (b) Rattlesnake grass (Glyceria Canadensis).

n-of- war. -- To give, or show, quarter (Mil.), to accept as prisoner, on submission in battle; to forbear to kill, as a vanquished enemy. -- To keep quarter. See Quarter, n., 3.